Muskies excited to start new court season

With a mile-wide grin on his face, it was easy to figure out the thoughts of Grade 10 junior boys’ volleyball player Jacob Bolzan on the eve of another NorWOSSA court sport campaign.
“I’m pretty pumped up about getting things started,” he enthused.

“We’ve been learning our positions and working on a lot of things here in practice over the last couple of weeks, and we are ready to start playing games,” he added.
That enthusiasm was shared by all four Muskie court teams as they prepared for yesterday’s season-opener here against the Dryden Eagles.
They’ve also worked on a few things prior to their first road action versus the Kenora Broncos tomorrow.
For the junior boys, who finished second in NorWOSSA play last season, they’re hoping the momentum from earning the consolation title at a tournament in Kenora two weeks ago carries over into league play.
“During that tournament, we came out very strong,” Bolzan noted. “And while we still have things to work on, things are going pretty good right now.
“When we played Kenora at the tournament, we learned that we shouldn’t be hitting as many free balls towards them,” he added.
“And if we communicate as a team and work hard, we should get a strong result.”
The senior boys’ volleyball team, meanwhile, was in Kenora this past weekend for a tournament, coming away with a fourth-place showing.
“The weekend, as a whole, was excellent as the guys played some great volleyball,” noted coach Alison Hyatt.
“The team is a lot farther ahead of where I thought they were heading into last weekend as we hadn’t seen a lot of them playing together during practice,” she noted.
“But it all meshed naturally and that was good to see.”
After falling to the Eagles in a thrilling five-set final last year, the black-and-gold are hoping to capture the NorWOSSA crown this season. But they know it won’t be easy.
“We can’t take anyone lightly in this league,” stressed Grade 12 student Lucas Koomans.
“Both Kenora and Dryden are highly-competitive teams, and they will be getting things rolling at the same time as we are, which will make for some tight games,” he predicted.
On the hard court, the Muskie junior girls’ basketball team will be looking to repeat as NorWOSSA champs for the second-straight year after they dominated the competition in 2011.
“We had an amazing winning streak last year, and I think if we can get a win under our belts early, that should really help our confidence going forward,” reasoned Grade 10 point guard Sierra Cousineau.
“There are a lot of things that are different from last year’s team, and there is quite bit of new layers that we are trying to learn, but things are coming together nicely for us,” she added.
While the juniors are gunning for another title, the senior squad will be looking to bounce back after being knocked out in the semi-final last fall.
“Last season we had a really tough time on offence and we just never seemed to get the ball in,” recalled Grade 12 guard Adriane Gurski.
“This year, we’ve changed some things around and we’re able to get our chances by driving to the basket and rolling off of picks, along with being a lot better at finding the holes out there,” she noted.
Also helping the black-and-gold in their pre-season preparations was a trip to a tournament in Thunder Bay two weekends ago, where they finished with a 2-2 record.
“I thought that tournament was a really good learning experience for us,” said Grade 12 forward Sarah Glover.
“When you are playing a team like Timmins that plays all year round, you really get a chance to see how they play on offence and defence, and that is something we can pick up on for our own team,” she reasoned.
After tomorrow’s trip to Kenora, the Muskies will make their first trip to Dryden next Thursday (Oct. 5) before hosting the Broncos on Wednesday, Oct. 10.