Both the Sacred Heart Saints and YRHS Raiders senior boys' volleyball teams took to the court this past weekend at Sacred Heart's annual home tournament.
Sacred Heart qualified for the bronze medal game finishing the round-robin with a 4-3 record and fourth overall while the Raiders' 2-5 record tied them for fifth with Humboldt, however their head-to-head meeting, which was won by Humboldt, resulted in a sixth place finish for the boys in orange and an early departure from the tournament.
The Saints, meanwhile, took on Kincaid in the bronze medal game after having lost to them in straight sets, 17-25, 20-25 in the round-robin.
The bronze medal meeting between the two looked to be a continuation of the round-robin meeting as Kincaid took the first set 18-25.
However the Saints, led by the powerful duo of Nick and Riley Kerr did not go away, taking the second set 25-19 to set up a third and final set for the bronze medal.
Sacred Heart made short work of Kincaid in the final set, jumping out to a commanding 8-2 lead before trading points with their opponents the rest of the way, resulting in a 15-7 victory in set three to win the bronze medal on their home court.
"It feels good. It's a good way to start the season," noted Saints head coach Curtis Moen after the game. "The boys did really well to start the year off with a bronze medal here at home."
Moen then mentioned how happy he was with the way his team performed, despite losing a starter before the season began and having just six practices in total leading up to the tournament. "We've only had six practices so far before this tournament," offered Moen. "And Bryan Buzinski, who is also one of the quarterbacks for the football team, got injured playing football. He has a broken arm and he was definitely going to be a starter for us so he will be missed."
However the loss of Buzinski, while painful, was dulled a little bit with the emergence of a new member of the Saints family, one Jake Javier. "We had a new player, Jake Javier, who did an excellent job of passing and serving in the back row," mentioned the Saints head coach. "He was a big surprise and hopefully he can continue to play the way he did."
The Raiders, too, had little time to prepare for the tournament, practicing just three times before taking to the court for their first match, a 22-25, 20-25 loss to Sacred Heart.
But unlike the Saints, who will get right back at it this upcoming weekend when they go to a tournament at the University of Regina, the Raiders have a long time to develop their skills before their next competition, which will be a tournament in Melville in just under a month and a half.
