With the way things had gone between the Central Cyclones and Assiniboia Rockets in the Moose Jaw High School Athletic Association senior boys volleyball regular season, it would be easy to assume Wednesday’s city final was going to be a long night.
The two teams had faced one another twice during the campaign and ended up going to five sets both times, with Assiniboia winning the first match and Central the second.
So when the two teams met for the title at Sask Polytech with the championship on the line, it made perfect sense that it would turn out to be a three-game sweep.
The Cyclones turned in one of their best matches of the season and would go on to a 25-15, 25-13, 25-19 victory for their first city title since 2016.
“It’s been a couple years since we’ve been to a finals and to win it in my Grade 12 year, it’s really exciting,” said Cyclones Grade 12 middle Talen Giraudier. “I thought it was going to be five sets because it’s been a battle with them all year, but to win it in three is pretty cool.”
Giraudier joined a host of Central front-row players who proved to be almost unstoppable all night long, something that was a product of getting the ball in the right positions at the right time.
“I think our left sides were doing a really good job of putting the ball away and our setter Josef (Yee) was doing a great job distributing the ball, which was great to see,” said Cyclones head coach Madi Macfie. “We were expecting a really tough match, but the guys played really well so we’re really happy to get the win like this.”
Giraudier had nothing but praise for his teammates and how they were able to set things up so efficiently and so often.
“It starts with the passing, Nathan (Pisio) is so good back there and Josef did a great job setting and it all worked out,” he said.
Then there’s the atmosphere at this time of year, with the Sask Polytech gym always a loud and raucous place when the city finals are on. The Cyclones made sure to take that into account during their preparations for the championship game.
“It was pretty amazing to see that,” Macfie said her team rising to the occasion. “We were talking in practice the last couple of weeks leading up to this that we were going to have some tough games, the pressure is going to be on and the intensity of the atmosphere is going to be hard. So I’m really, really proud of how they responded and how they played.”
The Cyclones had advanced to the final with a three-set win over Cornerstone last week, while Assiniboia needed four sets to get past Vanier.
The two teams aren’t done with the big games just yet.
Central will join Peacock and Vanier at the 4A boys regionals in Lumsden while Assiniboia will host their 3A regional playdown.
“Now it’s back to work tomorrow and getting ready to for regionals, we’re going to have to battle again and hopefully it goes just as well,” Macfie said.
The Rockets will be especially focussed heading into the weekend, simply because they have precedent on their side -- after also losing in three sets to the Vanier Vikings in the league final last season, Assiniboia did nothing but win the rest of the campaign on their way to the 3A boys provincial title.
And, of course, there will be plenty of volleyball to check out in Moose Jaw this weekend as the 4A girls provincial championships take place at Vanier and Peacock.
Be sure to keep an eye on www.shsaa.ca throughout the weekend to keep up with all the scores.
