It was a two-hour marathon match between the Caronport Cougars and the Vanier Vikings and it was the Cougars that were able to outlast in the end.
Vanier won the first set 26-24, but Caronport fought back and won the next three sets 25-16, 30-28 and 25-22 in senior boys volleyball action on Thursday evening.
“Our guys looked very tired, but it helps with the conditioning,” said Levi Broda, head coach of the Vikings.
Both teams did their pre-game warm-up rituals three times before they even set foot on the court because the girls game went over two hours as well. Although that set back the clubs, the Vikings were still excited to start their regular season
“The toughest thing for us is the match before us went to five sets. We had pre-game prep three times before the game started. But they were super jacked for the first game of the season,” explained Broda.
The Cougars seemed to be a bit timid in the opening set, but soon found their power on the offence and strong defence to weaken the Vikings attack and allowing them to focus on their game and take the next three sets, although they had to work for the wins.
“We came out slow in the first set, but that is to be expected in the first game of the year,” said Shane Sowden, head coach of the Cougars. “We were a little lethargic at the beginning, but in the second, third and fourth, our defence was stronger. We got the balls that we normally don’t get to and if we can do that over and over again, the other teams will get frustrated and down on themselves. If we can do that all year…that is our focus.”
For more on this story, read an upcoming edition of the Times-Herald.
