As each set went on, the Peacock Toilers seemed to get a little bit stronger and a little bit more confident against the powerful Central Cyclones.
The Toilers tried their hardest, but fell to the Cyclones in senior boys volleyball action in three sets, 25-12, 25-19 and 25-23 on Thursday evening.
“Central is a very good team and can be a little intimidating at times, but once the guys got past that, I thought that we did play better,” stated Peacock’s coach Paul Thoroughgood.
The difference for the Toilers wasn’t just luck, although they had a couple of balls bounce their way throughout the match, but also their ability to anticipate what Central was going to do instead of just reacting to how the Cyclones were controlling the play.
“We adjusted to the level of what they serve at. They are a really good serving team and I think our guys got a little more use to having to move their feet on the serve rather just having the ball hit them on their arms,” explained Thoroughgood. “I think we had a couple balls bounce in our direction…we had balls that went off the block, hit us in the shoulder and went over. Sometimes volleyball is a bit of luck and sometimes it is good positioning and sometimes a combination of both.”
After a lackluster performance on Tuesday evening by the Cyclones, their head coach, Shaune Gray was much happier with the play his team brought on Thursday. The team wasn’t just playing at a higher level, but they were playing ‘Cyclone volleyball’ — an aggressive and up-tempo style.
“They decided to come out and play the game. It is a little different playing in your home gym, there is a little bit more pride,” he said. “We are much happier with this game and they were just doing the fundamentally things right…playing in their defensive spots better and reading the hitters better on blocking and going up and swinging at the ball.”
Central and Peacock will be playing in the Moose Jaw senior boys volleyball tournament this weekend held at Peacock and Vanier. The 16-team tournament will feature four local teams.
“We are really looking forward to the weekend. We’ve got a really tough team in our pool with a Winnipeg team, but we have PA Carleton and we played them and had a really good match with them. I am really looking forward to playing them,” said Thoroughgood. “It should be a good tournament and if we can finish in the top half of the tournament, we will be happy.”
