Pomehichuk, Neelin set to host Spartan Dig

If you watched Elli Pomehichuk play without seeing the scoreboard, you’d have no idea if it was the first point of a match or match point.

The six-foot middle blocker is as stoic as she is dependable, even though she’s still just a junior on the Neelin Spartans varsity girls’ volleyball team.

Head coach Lana Dubois called her up from JV as a sophomore last season, a decision senior Ashley Henwood was certainly grateful for.

“She’s not as talkative, but just looking at her, you get encouraged to do good,” Henwood said at practice on Wednesday, ahead of this week’s Spartan Dig tournament.

The 96-team varsity boys’ and girls’ event begins on Friday all over the city.

The Neelin girls get to play all their pool matches at home this year, taking on Reston at 9 a.m., Elton at 11 o’clock and R.D. Parker at 1 p.m. However, they’ll have a lot more to do throughout the day as volunteers to make the tournament run.

“I really enjoy playing in the Dig. I like how many teams there are and getting to know other teams,” Pomehichuk said, adding the home event is coming at a good time.

“We’ve had ups and downs but I think we’re on the rise again, and the Dig will be really good for us.”

Pomehichuk and most of her teammates were AAA JV provincial champions two years ago, before she jumped up to varsity and played as an outside hitter.

Now that she’s back in the middle, she’s as comfortable as ever and feels Dubois helped with that.

“Just from playing last year and seeing Dubois’ coaching, I knew what to expect going into this year,” Pomehichuk said.

“Dubois really got me out of my shell. I’m talking a lot more and having fun on the court and off the court with this team.”

Neelin’s lineup, as usual, is creative and often goes beyond seven players, with some back row and front row specialists.

The core group gained a nice offensive boost in sophomore Izzy Didych, a starting outside hitter who has often led the team in scoring.

“Izzy has come a long way. I’ve been in her shoes, being pulled up. She’s coming out of her shell, too,” Pomehichuk said. “Dubois is helping her, pushing her more, and she has improved a lot.”

Neelin started the year by winning the Calvin Christian tournament, edging No. 2-ranked Linden Christian 2-1 (15-25, 25-22, 15-13) in the final.

The Spartans finished 10th at Lord Selkirk’s Royal Rumble, predominantly featuring AAAA teams.

The low point was the Viking Classic, where they finished in ninth place, having failed to reach the championship bracket.

Henwood said the team’s work ethic wasn’t there.

“We would try hard and then we’d get comfortable with how we were playing,” Henwood said. “We’d let them back in.

“When we’re all playing good, we feed off of each other’s energy. It’s like, ‘They got that dig, I should make this a good hit now too.’”

Neelin ended up in third at Virden’s Golden Bears Winter Fest two weeks ago, but the team feels ready to play its best volleyball now.

“We’ve had a few ups and downs throughout the season. We started off really well, and it felt like we dipped down a bit, but we’ve kind of found our grounding again,” Dubois said.

“We’re ready to turn things back up for the Spartan Dig and going into November.”

The Spartans have found a way to peak at the right time more often than not lately. They’ve claimed four of the last seven AAA provincial titles, the last coming in 2023. They’ve usually been among the top teams in the tournament, but not always the gold-medal favourite.

“We’ve always kind of said nothing really matters until it matters,” Dubois said.

“Every team’s going to have good games and bad games, you’re going to go through different bumps and bruises, so as long as we continue to progress throughout the rest of the season, everything else before what happens at provincials is just the steps to getting us where we need to be.”

After the Dig, they have the best-of-three city final series starting on Tuesday against the Vincent Massey Vikings, who are ranked first in AAAA.

Then, they’ll have a provincial qualifier two weeks before provincials in Winnipeg on Nov. 27-29.

But first, they have to get through a busy two days as they not only play three matches on Friday and as many as four on Saturday, but also help the largest high school volleyball tournament in the province run smoothly.

“Every year, the kids know that’s part of their responsibility. They’re not only there to play, but they’re also there to help run the Dig,” Dubois said.

“One of the cool things is that other than the scheduling, the Dig is mostly run by students. All four teams are competing in it … Every kid that’s playing is also going to be helping.”

With 12 pools of four teams, there are three 16-team playoff brackets. The top team in each pool, plus second place in four select pools, make up the championship bracket, which will play all its matches at Neelin and Massey on Saturday.

Should the Spartans win their pool, they’ll stay on home court as long as they keep winning, starting at 11 a.m., in the round of 16 and finishing with the final at 6 p.m.

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