Massey finally rolls out 50th Viking Classic

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This article was published 07/10/2022 (1307 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

On this day three years ago, Ella Werbiski played hooky.

She was a month into her freshman year at Vincent Massey High School and got to watch the school’s varsity girls volleyball team in its first match of the Viking Classic.

“I skipped school the whole day because I watched the first game and was like ‘I need to be there,’” said Werbiski, now one of the Vikings’ captains. “It’s just amazing to see these athletes who are just so amazing and the school crowd hyping everyone up. It was really exciting to be there.

“I remember Arlynne Hyra hit like six pipes from the back row, one after another and I was like ‘Whoa, I want to be like her,’ just always ready to hit. It was amazing to watch.”

Werbiski and her teammates finally get to take part in the 50th annual Viking Classic today at 9 a.m., 11 a.m., and 2 p.m. Head coach Mike DeGroot built a power pool with Oak Park, Sturgeon Heights and Winnipeg’s Vincent Massey Trojans to provide tough tests for his team.

The Massey boys play at home at 10 a.m., 1 p.m., and 3 o’clock, then finish up at 7 o’clock at Brandon University’s Healthy Living Centre, where the majority of the matches take place. The Vikings tend to draw a massive crowd of their peers decked out in purple and amped up on school spirit.

“It’s a lot. I don’t know what to expect because I’ve never been in a situation with such a crowd,” Werbiski said. “I’m apprehensive of what my play’s going to be like but I’m just excited to be in front of a home crowd and play really good teams.”

DeGroot has now run more than half the Viking Classics after starting with Massey teams in the late 1990s. He noted some years are easier than others — it helps when he has a good team that Winnipeg schools are eager to/feel is worth the trip to play — but it’s worth the effort to put on a unique event.

It’s the only varsity tournament of its kind that runs boys and girls events together.

“The word that comes to mind is impressive, on so many levels,” DeGroot said. “Impressive that the administration and the school have been so supportive of us doing the Viking Classic year after year, especially what it means to the school. There are some classes missed but it’s such a good thing for morale.

“The coolest part of it is the combination of playing in front of your home crowd but alternating the boys and girls playing … Having each of those teams support each other is such a unique experience for those kids and that’s amazing.”

This year’s event features 20 girls teams in five pools and 10 boys squads in two groups. Pool play starts and finishes today with playoffs all day Saturday. The boys final is at 4 p.m., with the girls at 6 o’clock at the HLC.

The Viking girls are ranked sixth in the Manitoba High Schools Athletic Association top 10, making them the lowest-ranked team in Pool A. No. 3 Westwood, No. 8 Selkirk and No. 10 Grant Park are also in the field while the other three top-10 schools — Steinbach, Mennonite Brethren and Dakota — aren’t making the trip.

The Vikings finished second at Luther College’s tournament in Regina two weeks ago but lost to the Westwood Warriors and Trojans in the playoffs at last weekend’s tournament in Selkirk to settle for seventh. They’re hungry to prove they belong near the top.

“Regina was really good for us, playing teams where you didn’t have the pressure of ‘We want to see where we play against them,’” said Werbiski, a six-foot-one outside hitter. “Last weekend, it was a letdown but it also showed us how hard we have to fight if we want to be at the top and that we can’t let down if we have an easier pool, then a not-so-easy playoff situation.”

Massey’s last trip to the AAAA final four featured an undersized but scrappy lineup with some of the best ball control in the province. This group towers over them and is one of DeGroot’s most competitive teams he’s coached, he said, in more than two decades at Massey.

The lineup is senior-heavy with five-foot-10 setter Ava Plamondon running the show and five-foot-11 middle blocker Tiana Low proving capable of scoring on offence and defence. Werbiski, Ryan DeGroot and sophomore Jersey Hansen-Young shoulder the bulk of the scoring load.

A handful of the Vikings have played together most of their club volleyball careers and helped Cats Volleyball Club win a 14-and-under national title in 2019.

Werbiski said it’s been cool to see her teammates grow over the years.

“For us seniors, we’ve been playing with each other since we were in 13U so I get to see them this whole time. “Tiana Low, for example, I’ve seen her come from hitting balls out of the court to being able to crush everything,” Werbiski said. “The most change would have to be Lexi Brown. She’s just become such a powerful player where she takes control and is able to run the court so it’s fun to play with her.”

The Vikings have an easy path to provincials, which start in just seven weeks. So they’re essentially four matches away from their goal. Or three, if they can win tournaments like this weekend’s and snag one of four first-round byes.

“We’re trying for the title for sure,” Werbiski said. “That’s our hope but we’ve got to stay on the grind.”

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