There was chanting, screaming, cheering and tears on both sides of the court in the girls varsity volleyball semi final game between Caronport and Peacock on Thursday night. In a rollercoaster game that saw the momentum switch multiple times, the third placed Toilers used five sets to defeat the second placed Cougars. The Toilers won the first set 25-20, the fourth set 27-25 and the fifth set 25-12 to secure their spot in the city final. Caronport won a wild second set 33-31 and the third set 27-25.
“Wow, that’s amazing,” said Peacock’s head coach Lorne Polupski. “That was a rollercoaster all night, a scary rollercoaster night.”
In the opening set, the intensity and excitement were obvious on both sides as the girls rallied in the close match. The duo of Amy Williamson and Kayla Busch were strong at the net, continually blocking shots for Peacock.
In the second match, neither team could get ahead by the much-needed two points, taking the game to extras. Caronport’s Vanessa Goudy had a great night digging deep balls and spiking balls for crucial points for the Cougars. Christa Clearwater also had a good night serving for Caronport and Kenedee Charuk had a strong net in the backcourt.
The third set also needed extra points, but Peacock was able to come out with the set. Heading into the fourth match, Caronport had control for the majority of the set. The Toilers were down by five points and came back to tie it and then finally squeak out the 27-25 win.
“We had our chance in the fourth and they fought back,” said Caronport’s head coach, Shannon Koshman. “Little unforced errors on our side and it did not end how we anticipated.”
The Toilers came out strong in the fifth tie breaking set, where they opened with a 14-2 lead and extended that to 20-6 before finally sealing the victory with a Karsten Ventassel serve.
“That is exciting as it gets unless you are in a final,” Polupski said. “That is awesome to have that in a semi final, that means the league is getting more competitive and programs are getting stronger all around.
“I never expected to get here. We lost some players in the spring and have had such a weird year — we weren’t in our gym for three weeks and it was October 16 when we had our first practice with the whole team…it was just a real weird year.”
For more on this story, read Friday's Times-Herald.
