The Paul Kane Blues are within striking distance of their first senior men’s volleyball banner in the metro Edmonton league.
A victory over the Bellerose Bulldogs in tonight’s division two final would end the longest non-championship stretch at Paul Kane.
Start time is 8 p.m. at Memorial Composite High School in Stony Plain.
“It’s really exciting. We want to crunch it,” said Kyle Lund, a force on the left side, after Monday’s semifinal win over the St. Peter the Apostle Spartans.
Paul Kane has celebrated volleyball championships in the senior women and junior men’s and women’s ranks but never in the senior men’s division since the metro league was formed in 1988.
The only senior men’s volleyball title for the Bulldogs was 2002 in the city conference.
The Bulldogs are 7-2 after an emotional 25-17, 23-25, 16-25, 25-21, 15-13 affair against the Archbishop MacDonald Marauders (6-4) Monday at Bellerose.
The Blues swept the Bulldogs 25-19, 27-25, 25-21 in league play Oct. 24, en route to placing first in pool A and tying the pool B Mother Margaret Mary Storm for the overall top spot in the division at 6-1.
Bellerose shared second place in pool A with the Spartans.
“Bellerose has two good left side swingers, I play with them in club, and they’ve got some big middles,” Lund said. “When we played them (at Paul Kane) it wasn't too close of a game. I thought this game was closer.”
The 22-25, 25-21, 25-17, 25-22 result against the Spartans (7-2) was the eighth win in nine matches for the Blues in league play.
“We played good all around as a team,” Lund said. “We weren’t really passing in the quarter-finals as good as we did here.”
The Blues swept the St. Francis Xavier Rams (4-5) last week 25-19, 25-16, 25-17 for a rematch against the team that beat them 17-25, 30-28, 25-18, 22-15,15-13 Oct. 17 in Spruce Grove.
“This game here was kind of our redemption and we got it back for sure,” Lund said.
After losing the opening set, with very few point runs for both teams, the Blues started cranking out the hits with Lund and co-captain Landon Bishop leading the charge.
A stretch of five consecutive points in the second set, highlighted by a big block by Caleb Brochu, put the Blues in control at 21-15.
The next three points were scored by Lund and Bishop’s block ended the set.
The Blues never looked back and in the next pumped up the power for a sizable 16-8 lead as Marko Ogar got physical with the ball on a number of plays.
Bishop’s net presence was another factor down the stretch as the Blues finished off the set.
The Spartans got rolling in the fourth set but were unable to pull away from the Blues despite several leads of two or three points.
Jack MacPherson, the only Grade 10 on the roster, entered the set as an injury replacement and immediately made an impact with a block for the 19th and tying point.
It was 20-all when a blast by Bishop was too hot to handle for the Spartans.
Another lightning bolt by Bishop tied it at 22 and a block by MacPherson put the Blues ahead to stay.
“The first set we were kind of weak. We weren’t swinging and we weren’t passing very well but we brought it back in the next three sets,” Lund said.
Backed by a large cheering section, including a vocal contingent of football players, the Blues turned in an inspired performance against the gritty Spartans.
“We played a pretty good game, just like we did over the season,” said Lund, an energetic Grade 11 leader on the floor. “The fans were great. I know that’s what probably pumped me up the most.”
There was also extra incentive to reach the final after last year’s 9-3 team was eliminated in the division two quarter-finals in five sets by the Louis St. Laurent Barons, the eventual champions.
“It was like 15-13 in the last set,” said Lund, 16. “We should’ve went to the finals but this time we’re going for sure and we’re excited about it.”
