Rams' redemption spikes Warriors

       St. Joe's captures first ever District junior boys' volleyball championship 

             Friday, November 10, 2017

By Rob J. Ross

WOODSTOCK, ON. - Not only did the St. Joseph's Rams make some school history, they avenged their only regular season loss, along the way.

The Rams won their school's first District junior boys' volleyball title, defeating the St. Mary's Warriors, three games to one (25-22, 25-15, 21-25, 25-22), in the championship final, at St. Mary's Catholic high school.

"That's the type of volleyball we practised to play all season long," Rams co-coach Mike Waterhouse said. "We didn't let too many balls go over the net without making some sort of offensive attack on it.

The Rams nabbed early momentum taking game one and seemingly cruised to a 25-15 game two win.

St. Mary's responded avoiding a sweep on home court, taking game three, 25-21.  Game four was tight all through, with no side having more than a two point advantage, until the Rams won a long rally, to gain a 24-21 lead. St. Joe's grabbed the next point for the win. The celebration was temporarily interrupted, due to a net violation on the Rams. But upon officials' review, the call was overturned and the victory dances resumed.

"I haven't seen us block as well as that all season," Waterhouse said. "We focused on being offensive, focused on blocking and defensive positioning. A few balls hit the floor because two kids looked at each other, but for the most part we picked up hard driven balls easily because we were in the right spot."

St. Joe's finished first in the District league, with a 10-1 record, with the Warriors handing the Rams that lone loss, winning a five game match, October 5, at St. Joe's.

"That was the only team to beat us during the regular season so we had something to prove. We wanted to play them since the fifth week," said Waterhouse.

"We didn't change anything. The match we lost, in the games we lost, we didn't serve well. We missed seven or eight serves and lost by two points. Tonight, we maybe missed two serves the whole match. We work on extending rallies and that is what they did well tonight. Everything they were taught this year, they brought into this game. We couldn't be more proud of 12 kids."

St. Joe's advances to WOSSAA AA, November 16, at South Collegiate Institute, in London.

"We're on a pretty big high going into Thursday's WOSSAA and hoping to carry through with the same type of play," Waterhouse said.