MOOSEJAWTODAY.COM -- It’s a common refrain for any sports team during the regular season -- all the games leading up to playoffs are nothing more than preparation, with the goal of peaking at the perfect time and taking a shot at winning it all.
For the Vanier Vikings boys volleyball team this past weekend during the Saskatchewan High Schools Athletic Association 4A boys provincial championship in Moose Jaw, that’s exactly how things turned out.
After putting together middling records at tournaments all season, the Vikings were on point from start to finish at provincials, dropping a single match on their way to winning bronze at Sask Polytech on Saturday afternoon.
“We went 6-1 at provincials and that’s just mind-blowing for our crew,” said long-time Vikings head coach Levi Broda. “Almost every tournament we went to this year we had .500 records, so it just shows that we peaked at the right time. There are very few teams you can put together that can peak when it really matters against the best competition, so I’m really proud of our effort.”
Vanier had an outstanding opening day at the tournament, taking a 25-20, 25-22 win over Melfort, downing Melville 25-18, 21-25, 16-14 and defeating Meadow Lake 15-25, 25-22, 15-10 to sit in first place in their pool after competition Friday.
It was more of the same in their final round robin game Saturday morning, a 25-11, 25-11 win over Kindersley, and the Vikings were into the playoffs one of the top seeds.
Vanier kept the roll going with a 25-20, 25-17 win against Yorkton Sacred Heart, sending them into a semifinal bout with the reigning Moose Jaw city champion Central Cyclones, who had defeated Vanier for gold a week earlier.
The Vikings got off to a great start with a 25-17 win in the first set, but the eventual provincial gold medalists proved to too tough a nut to crack, as they won 25-12 and 15-7 in the next two sets.
That sent the Vikings to the bronze medal game, where they regained their winning mojo and took a 25-21, 14-25, 15-7 victory over North Battleford John Paul II.
“I think they just trusted their preparation and played free,” Broda said when asked what their key to the weekend was. “They were aggressive and did things we worked on all season, being not afraid to make mistakes and if there’s an error, our systems in place are going to be okay and we’ll win the next point. That’s really what happened and it resulted in us winning some tough games.”
Seeing two Moose Jaw teams finish in the medals was also a bonus, especially with the battles the teams had been through all season.
“Just to have the first place winner and the bronze winner come from Moose Jaw is pretty special,” Broda said. “It just shows that both of our teams pushed each other throughout the year, and you never know where you stand provincially until the end. So to see us both there was pretty cool.”
Finding the season-ending success was the product of a season of learning, as the Vikings coaching staff molded a crew of top-flight athletes into a medal winning volleyball team -- and one that will hopefully contend for more hardware in the future.
“It’s been a realy fun run, and this was a team where the boys had to put in the work and learn,” Broda said. “There’s definitely been some turnover the last couple years, and we still have some elite players on the team, but they had to learn how to play volleyball, especially in our team systems and stuff like that.
“It just comes down to having good kids, kids who are willing to put the team first instead of what they need.”
You can check out all the scores from this weekend at www.shsaa.ca.
