Owls’ junior squad wins Dryden tourney

Staff

It was a busy weekend for the Muskie and Rainy River Owls’ court sports teams at various tournaments.
The Owls’ junior girls’ volleyball team had the best showing in claiming the title at the Dryden Eagles’ home tournament held Friday and Saturday.
Rainy River compiled a 5-0-1 record to top the Gold Division, which included wins over each of the Fort Frances Black (25-17/25-12), Fort Frances White (25-7/25-17), St. Ignatius Falcons (25-9/25-23), Kenora Broncos White (25-9/25-10), and St. Thomas Aquinas Saints (25-21/25-6).
The Owls also split with the host Eagles with set score of 25-7 and 14-25.
After sweeping the Broncos Purple squad 25-18 and 25-23 in the quarterfinals, the Owls dumped the St. Patrick Saints (Thunder Bay) in the semis to advance to the championship match.
The Owls took on the host Eagles for gold, where they again prevailed by scores of 20-25, 25-19, and 15-7.
Fort Frances Gold claimed bronze with a win over the Saints after going 4-0-2 to top the Blue Division.
That included wins over the Whiskey Jacks (25-10/25-18), Saints (25-20/25-8), Fort Frances 4 (25-5/25-10), and Broncos Purple (25-7/25-23).
The Gold squad also earned splits with the Sioux Lookout Warriors (24-26/25-16) and the Hammarskjold Vikings (25-23/19-25).
The Fort Frances White, Black, and 4 squads all failed to medal at the tourney but still put in respectable showings.
The Muskie senior girls’ volleyball team, meanwhile, was in action at the annual Westgate Tigers’ “Spike-Off” tourney in Thunder Bay on Friday and Saturday.
Fort High compiled a 3-0 record in Orange Division play to head into the playoff rounds as the second-ranked team.
That included wins over each of the host Tigers (25-7, 25-19, and 8-15), Marathon Falcons (25-13, 25-19, and 16-14), and Vikings (25-13, 25-8), and 15-5).
The Muskies then battled the Wetsgate Tigers’ junior girls’ team in the championship side quarterfinals, where they prevailed by set scores of 25-19 and 25-10.
That put the black-and-gold into the semis, where they dumped Dryden by a 25-15 and 25-14 count.
Fort High then faced the Atikokan Voyageurs in the championship match but fell short to settle for silver.
In boys’ basketball action, both the Muskie junior and senior teams competed at the annual Brandon Sun Spartan Invitational tourney held Thursday through Saturday.
The senior squad compiled an 0-3 record to finish last in Pool 3 play.
Fort High fell by a 95-60 count to the Kelvin Clippers before being routed 94-40 by the Glenlawn Lions.
The Muskies then ended pool play with a narrow 85-80 loss to Yorkton.
Then in a battle of fourth place teams in Tier 1, the Muskies downed the Maples Marauders 80-51 before also defeating Bedford Road 85-46 to finish in 15th spot.
As for the juniors, they also compiled an 0-3 record to finish in fourth place out of four teams in Pool 8.
After losing 76-47 to the Swan Valley Tigers, Fort High also was dumped 93-43 by the Crocus Plains Plainsmen and routed 68-24 by the Steinbach Sabres.
Then in the battle of fourth-place teams, the Muskies rebounded with their lone win of the weekend in topping the Calvin Christian Eagles 77-40.
But their good fortune came to an end with a 73-65 loss to the Killarney Raiders in the 15th-place game.
All four Muskie court sports teams will resume NorWOSSA action tomorrow afternoon when they hit the road to face the Sioux Lookout Warriors.
Then they’ll host Dryden in their home-openers on Thursday afternoon before breaking for the holidays.