Trojans split

The Churchill Trojans ran out of gas at an inopportune time on Thursday afternoon.

But they managed to give one of the top teams in the Ontario Federation of School Athletics Associations senior boys AA volleyball championship a run for their money.

The Trojans rallied from 5-1 down in the second set and survived a barrage of match points late in the contest to pull out a 29-27 win over the Essex Red Raiders.

But winded from their effort, and a pair of long sets in their earlier 2-0 win over St. Michael, and despite playing with a home-court advantage, the Trojans weren’t up to the task in the third and decisive set, falling 15-6 to even their record at 1-1 at the provincial tournament being staged in Thunder Bay.

“Yeah, we’re not used to this high mentality of volleyball,” said Churchill’s Jordan Kelly.

“It takes more out of you, especially when you go into a third set.”

But while the second set took too much out of the Trojans, it also showed they belong in the title-hunt conversation.

The Red Raiders were ranked No. 4 heading into the tournament, nine slots ahead of Churchill, which is seeking NWOSSA’s first volleyball crown since the Dryden Eagles turned the trick in 2005.

“We tried to give it all we’ve got and it kind of left us burnt out for the last set.”

Kelly said he’ll take a 1-1 record after the opening day of the tournament.

“The teams are high-calibre here, but I’m happy with how we played.”

There’s plenty to improve on he added, starting with the way they moved the ball around the court. Fix that and things will be fine, Kelly said.

“We need to improve on our passing. Our first game we did really good, but we kind of struggled this game. I think we’re doing pretty well. We have a solid team this year and I think we can go pretty far,” Kelly said.

Churchill coach Scott Masters said he’d like to have pulled out the improbable win, but blamed a slow start on the loss.

In the opening set the No. 13-seeded Trojans were down 24-11, before rolling off eight straight points to pull within five. But it was too huge a task to ask them to complete the comeback, putting them in an early hole they ultimately couldn’t escape from.

“The first set we came out playing in our home court with a lot of fans. We don’t normally get that for volleyball. So the guys fell asleep in the first set. The second set was pretty good ball both ways and the guys gave it their all,” Masters said.

“If we don’t pass the ball, we’re not going to run our offence, and that’s kind of what happened in the third set. The guys know that. They’re not doing it on purpose. But they were getting tired.”

Churchill takes on Timiskaming District Secondary School at 10 a.m. on Friday at Superior Collegiate and Ecole secondaire catholique Franco Cite at 1 p.m. at St. Pat’s.

In other afternoon action, Dryden High School improved to 2-0, knocking off Lockerby Comosite School 22-25, 25-23 and 15-8. Earlier in the day they took three sets to defeat St. Andrew’s College 21-25, 25-23 and 15-7.