The will to win was greater than the fear of failure for the St. Albert Skyhawks in Tuesday’s volleyball showdown with the Bellerose Bulldogs.
Down but never out in the best-of-five match, the Skyhawks dug deep to knock off the undefeated Bulldogs 20-25, 25-23, 24-26, 25-19, 15-12 in the metro Edmonton division two pool B marathon at Bellerose Composite High School.
“Going into this game we were really confident even though they did have a better record than us,” said Colin Poirier, a Grade 12 power for the 3-4 Skyhawks. “Now I think more teams around the league will know that we’re the team to beat.”
The Bulldogs looked dazed and confused after their first loss in six matches.
“We were pretty cocky, I’ll admit it. We thought we had it but they showed us up,” said Nick Mentz, a Grade 12 power. “We expected it to be easy and it wasn’t. They played a really good game. They just played more inspired ball.”
With the crossover playoffs starting Thursday, the Skyhawks needed a win to finish as high as possible among the pool B qualifiers while the Bulldogs battle the Paul Kane Blues (5-1) for first place.
“This is a huge wakeup call. We realize what it takes to lose and now we know what it takes to win I guess,” Mentz said. “We still have high expectations though. We still expect to come out first. The next few games are really important for us now.”
The Skyhawks strung more points together in a row than the Bulldogs when it counted.
“We’re the same teams pretty much and it’s really even on both sides, but the difference was we got on a lot more streaks than them,” Poirier said. “We always do really good on offence and in this game we showed that. Our passing struggled in the first couple of sets but we picked it up in the fourth and fifth.”
Team play was another deciding factor for both sides.
“We didn’t play together this game. All the other games we’ve been playing as a team and today we kind of fell apart,” Metz said.
“In our other games it just seemed like we weren’t playing as a team but this game we really beared down and played well as a team,” Poirier added. “Usually we’re really quiet on the court but against this team we were really enthusiastic and talked a lot.”
The Bulldogs were also missing their most lethal swinger and captain, Grade 12 power Sean Poulin, and his absence was reflected in the team’s performance.
“He’s our biggest hitter so it was big that he wasn't here,” Mentz said.
After the Bulldogs dominated the opening set the Skyhawks planted the seed of doubt inside the home team with a strong finish to the next set. The back-and-forth affair ended with the Skyhawks scoring the last three points, highlighted by the net presence of Poirier and Andrew Salcedo and Nick Cuciz’s ace to make it 24-23.
“When they won we really realized it wasn’t going to be easy and then we just fell apart and got mad at each other,” Mentz said.
The Bulldogs regained the lead by out-scoring the Skyhawks 4-1 to end the third set following a Bellerose timeout after a big hit by A.J. Armstrong and two points by Poirier put the Skyhawks up 23-22. Poirier’s hit of out bounds gave the Bulldogs the 25-24 lead.
Zane Hermanutz of the Bulldogs was responsible for three of the team’s final four points, including a block to end it.
The fourth set brought out the best in the Skyhawks. After one of the very few point runs by the Bulldogs in the match, the Skyhawks slapped eight points together as Scott Millar’s serving and a strong hitting attack spearheaded by Poirier, Armstrong and Salcedo pushed the visitors in front 24-17.
Salcedo’s cannonball down the pipe completed the comeback.
“The big run we had in set four with the serving we had definitely got our momentum going into the fifth set,” said Poirier.
He carried the Skyhawks on his back in the deciding set by recording the last three points with a big block, a shot that was too tough to handle and the match-clinching spike.
“That was amazing. I wasn’t really expecting to hit that last one because I was kind of coming from the back court but I just let it go,” said Poirier.
He is one of the few returning Skyhawks on the roster from last year’s city conference championship team that featured six Grade 12s.
“A lot of the Grade 12s who left from last year were a lot taller than our new guys coming so it’s been really hard to adjust. We also started playing a new playing style too (under coach Todd Ung) but I think we’re coping with it well,” said Poirier, 17.
This year the Bulldogs have shown some bite in division two, formerly the city conference, after going 3-7 last year in premier, which is now division one.
“We’ve got a few bigger hitters and all-around we’ve got more of a stacked team with more consistent play definitely,” said Mentz, 17.
