THUNDER BAY – It took less than an hour for the Westgate Tigers to sweep their way to a second straight senior girls high school volleyball title.
The Tigers, who won’t get a chance to represent the region at the cancelled provincial championships, nonetheless completed a perfect season, not dropping a set en route to the south-side school’s eighth senior volleyball crown since 1979.
While sad she won’t be going to OFSSA, Grade 11 Tiger Sydney Deans said winning a Superior Secondary Schools Athletic Association title again – her Westgate junior team won in 2020 – was a spectacular way to cap off a season interrupted by COVID-19.
“Coming in, obviously we were nervous. We did win back in Grade 9, but the competition ups and you never know what’s going to happen. You get worried about things. But this team is so positive and funny and does everything great,” Deans said.
“By the second set I just had a feeling that this was happening again, that we were going to win again.”
Other than a 4-0 deficit to start the match, held in the familiar confines of the Westgate gymnasium, the perk of a 12-0 regular season finish, the Tigers were in control of the match pretty much from start to finish.
A 6-0 run in the first set erased a 7-6 St. Ignatius lead and they went on to take the opener 25-17. It got easier from there, the second set going 25-13 in their favour. The put the match away with a 25-14 win in the finale of the best-of-five championship.
“I’m happy with the team, I’m glad we could pull it off,” said Westgate captain Jerzi Pinder, possibly the best female high school volleyball player all of Northwestern Ontario.
“We went undefeated in the entire season and I’m really proud of us. It’s tough, it’s stressful. Every game is a new match, but we played good tonight.”
With the inability to compete at provincials, thanks again to COVID-19, Pinder said finishing with the perfect season intact was about the best they could hope for in 2022.
“It was important, especially for the seniors. I’m glad we could bring it all home and stay undefeated for them.”
Pinder said Wednesday’s win was the result of playing well as a team.
“We communicated and it was teamwork,” she said.
It’s about all the team could ask for, said Westgate coach Curtis Michaluk, who savoured the last few points of the win, thinking about what it meant to his senior players, denied a chance to go to provincials for two straight seasons.
“You take it all in and you watch the excitement they have. You couldn’t ask for anything better.”
The future is bright for the Tigers program, which also captured the junior championship on Wednesday night, downing St. Ignatius in the final earlier in the evening.
