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Neelin’s Tyrell Medwood (left) and teammate Mason Hodgson defend a spike from Vincent Massey’s Joel Rocan during the Brandon University Bobcats High School Boys Tournament final Saturday evening in the Neelin Gymnasium. Vincent Massey won 25-22, 25-19.
(COLIN CORNEAU/BRANDON SUN)
The Vincent Massey Vikings feel a lot more confident now that they’ve won their first varsity boys high school volleyball tournament of the season.
The Vikings were upset after not faring very well at the University of Winnipeg event a week ago. But Massey bounced back by only losing two sets at the Brandon University Bobcats High School Boys Tournament and beat the Neelin Spartans 2-0 (25-22, 25-19) in Saturday night’s final at the Neelin gymnasium. While this weekend’s event featured more rural-sized schools than AAAA squads, it was a big boost for the Vikings.
"It’s great," said Daven Pascal, a 6-foot-7 middle who was named tournament MVP. "We knew what we could accomplish this tournament. It was some tough competition, but we just put our minds to it. We just earned it."
Pascal finished the final with six kills and 1 1/2 blocks. Jared Friesen led the way with 10 kills while Joel Rocan added eight and Seth Friesen had seven more. Rocan and Sam Isfeld were named tournament all-stars for Massey, while Neelin’s Chance Miller and Theo Farough, who had nine kills and three blocks, were also named to the all-star team. Mason Hodgson added six kills, six blocks and two digs for Neelin.
The Vikings came into the weekend wanting to minimize their opponents’ runs, and they did just that. They also showed they could finish off sets in the final, as they never trailed in the second set and led most of the way through the first.
Vikings coach Kurt Hunter liked what he saw from his players, and loved that they got to play the Spartans, who they will visit in the Brandon High School Volleyball League opener on Tuesday.
"It was good to meet up with Neelin in the final, considering they’re in our city league," he said. "I thought the guys played well. There’s still lots they can work on, but it’s nice to have some success early in the year."
While the Spartans would have liked to have won the event, head coach John McLeod was happy with his team’s performance.
"I think this early in the season it’s a good result," he said. "We came out and pushed a lot of teams and played a good Massey team. We saw them last weekend and they’re a little bit above us right now, but we’re going to see them Tuesday in league play and we’ll go at them then."
» See Page B4 for more scores
» cjaster@brandonsun.com
VINCENT MASSEY TOPS CROCUS IN FINAL
The Vincent Massey Vikings girls volleyball program had a very successful weekend.
Carmen Hutsal had nine kills and six digs while Kelsey Pettinger added eight kills, three blocks and three aces as the Vikings beat the host Crocus Plainsmen 2-1 (26-24, 15-25, 15-13) in the final of the Westman Varsity Girls Tournament on Saturday night.
Mackenzie Pearson led Crocus with 12 kills and Stephanie Hunter added 10 more, while Abbi Robinson added 17 digs.
It’s the second straight tournament title for the Vikings, who won the season-opening Top 8 Debate last weekend and are the No.1-ranked AAAA varsity girls high school team in the province. The Vikings beat the Virden Golden Bears 2-0 (25-20, 25-23) in the semifinals, while Crocus beat Shoal Lake 2-0 (25-13, 25-15). Virden went on to top Shoal Lake 25-15, 25-18 in the third-place game.
Meanwhile, Courtney Wallis had nine kills as the Vikings beat the John Taylor Pipers
2-1 (25-15, 19-25, 15-4) to win the Kildonan East junior varsity girls high school volleyball tournament on Saturday in Winnipeg. Allison Cruse added five kills for the Vikings, who hadn’t lost a set until the final.
The Vikings JV boys won the B-side of the MBCI tournament in Winnipeg, edging the Jeanne-Sauvé Olympiens 2-1 in the final. The Vikings swept Winnipeg’s Vincent Massey Trojans and Winkler’s Garden Valley Zodiacs earlier on Saturday.
» Brandon Sun
Republished from the Brandon Sun print edition September 24, 2012
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