The Central Cyclones appear to be on that right track in senior girls action
The Cyclones posted a 3-2 record in the round robin at a tournament in Weyburn over the weekend before going on to claim the bronze medal. A few days later in league play, Central nearly took the first set off the powerhouse Peacock Toilers before eventually falling in three sets.
It’s all a sign that things are moving in the right direction in the eyes of Cyclones coach Joe Gunnis.
“We’ve been getting better each and every tournament,” Gunnis said. “With more practice time and getting back to the sport they haven’t been able to play for a while, it’s been great, and to see the girls continue to improve and gain knowledge in the game is really important. They’ve been able to get a little bit better every day, and that’s what we want to see.”
Their showing in Weyburn was a prime example. The tournament featured a host of 5A teams -- including Weyburn, Regina Riffel and Yorkton -- and offered a good test as to where the 4A Cyclones currently stand.
“It was definitely a great weekend, the competition has been good and there’s lots of parity in the province from what we’ve seen as well,” Gunnis said. “Weyburn has a great team, Riffel has a very scrappy good team and we seem to meet them in every playoff in every tournament we’ve been in and have been going back and forth. This time in Weyburn they had our number, but I’m sure we’ll see them again… There was lots of great competition and some close games, so the girls definitely worked for everything they achieved and played some great volleyball.”
Central opened with a hard-fought 25-17, 25-27, 13-15 loss to Riffel before reeling off wins over Yorkton (25-17, 25-19), Weyburn 2 (25-13, 21-25, 15-3) and Lumsden (25-15, 25-16). They closed out their round robin with a 25-19, 25-19 loss to Weyburn 1.
The Cyclones then dropped a 25-19, 25-13 decision to Riffel in the semifinal but rebounded to defeat Lumsden 22-25, 25-21, 18-16 and win bronze.
Against the Toilers on Tuesday night, Peacock took a 25-23, 25-12, 25-17 victory. The contest between Vanier and Briercrest Christian Academy was postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak in Caronport.
“Peacock shows a bit of a different game than some other teams and it’s about getting used to that, being able to play good defence,” Gunnis said. “So we continue to push forward and try to learn from any mistakes that were made and that’s the important thing. We played really well and were competitive in the first set, so we’ll continue to push to practice those things we need to and get better as we go and see what happens when we see them later in the season.”
High school girls league action continues Tuesday, Oct. 5 with Peacock at Vanier and Briercrest tentatively at Central. Game times are 8 p.m.
