Wolves boys volleyball team advances in WECSSAA “AA” playoffs
The WECSSAA quarterfinal match didn’t start out the greatest for the North Star Wolves but it ended the way they wanted.
The Wolves ousted the Riverside Stingers from the WECSSAA “AA” senior boys volleyball playoffs last Thursday evening as they overcame a slow start to do so. The Stingers won the first set 25-14 and kept it close throughout the early portion of the second set but the Wolves pulled away to win that one 25-19. North Star then finished the job in the third and fourth sets, winning 25-17 and 25-14.
“I think we started out slow but we got back into our rhythm,” said Mason Long.
“We got more relaxed as the play went on.”
Teammate Wakan Rainville said Riverside had a lot of energy the first set but the Wolves didn’t believe that would be the case in every set. North Star picked up their own energy and pulled out the victory.
“We played them twice before,” added Long. “We knew them pretty well.”
Rainville said they have to keep working hard as the playoffs go on with Long agreeing they need to keep increasing their work ethic.
Coach Mary Ewer added they had a poor start but started to pick up their game in the second set and then played better throughout the match.
“We didn’t start well at all,” she said.
The Wolves started serving better and played in other aspects of their game. Their defense was also better as the match went on with the Wolves also showing a “never say die” attitude.
“I liked the bounce back after a terrible first set,” added coach Jeff Miller.
Miller added if they had gotten down 2-0 in sets, it could have been a tough hole to climb out of but the Wolves battled hard in the second set and found a way to win. He said they started rolling in the third and fourth sets of the best-of-five match.
“We needed to win that second game,” he said.
Miller added Riverside played the day before where North Star had a bye, so he believes the Stingers were able to bring their playoff energy into the match where the Wolves had to get into a groove.
“They were already in playoff mode and we weren’t,” said Miller. “They had the energy.”When North Star’s energy level picked up, “we took control of the match and didn’t give it back.”
The Wolves advanced to the WECSSAA “AA” semi-finals, which was Tuesday night (Nov. 10) after this issue of the RTT went to press. They travelled to Kingsville to play the Erie Migration Coyotes.
Wolves boys volleyball team advances in WECSSAA “AA” playoffs
By Ron Giofu
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