Colonel Gray sweeps AAA volleyball titles
A marathon opening-set win sparks Colonels to first senior AAA boys’ volleyball title since 1996
The P.E.I. School Athletic Association Senior AAA Boys Volleyball League championship banner is returning to the Colonel Gray gymnasium for the first time since 1996.
The Colonels defeated their cross-city rivals, the Charlottetown Rural Raiders, 3-0 (30-28, 25-17, 25-21) in the gold-medal match Saturday at the Charlottetown Rural gymnasium.
"It was an extremely exciting match, to be honest,” said Gray head coach Max Arsenault. “Rural brought the energy, were hitting hard and making us work on defence at the start. It made for a very intense, exciting match. It was very fast-paced.”
Arsenault was told just before the final that Gray had not won a provincial senior AAA boys’ volleyball title in 24 years. He said that motivated the players to be part of something special.
“That’s so awesome,” said Gray’s Grade 12 power Nathan Zakem, who was named the provincial championship tournament’s MVP. “(The) last two years, we came fifth and fourth. It’s so awesome to come first, and this is my first-ever gold medal.”
Raiders head coach Joe Ryan said he was happy with his team’s overall play. He knew the young and inexperienced Raiders were facing a stiff test against top-seeded Gray.
“I knew they had a stronger six than we had,” said Ryan. “For example, we never set the ball to the middle once all match until the end of the third set. Unfortunately, that ball sailed long. At this level, you have to establish that attack and we just couldn’t.”
The back-and-forth first set had fans of both teams on
the edge of their seats. Colonel Gray had four set points while Rural had two as the momentum – and lead – shifted back and forth.
“I was trying to pretend that I was acting super cool with the guys, but I was trembling writing game notes in my clipboard,” said Arsenault. “Those are situations that you rarely get to practise or work on if they don’t happen. It was great to see the guys were able to compete and steal that first set.”
Zakem said he felt that was a turning point.
“If we didn’t win that, I think it would have been a lot different,” he said. “It gave us momentum.”
Ryan said no one will ever know what would have happened if the Raiders had been able to win Set 1.
CLUTCH SERVING
Two clutch service rotations by middle Nathan Whitnell opened up some breathing room for Gray in the second and third sets.
In the second set, Whitnell recorded three straight points to give Gray an 11-6 advantage and they would not look back. In the third set, five straight points by Whitnell gave the Colonels a 15-10 lead.
“Nathan Whitnell played a fantastic match as a Grade 10,” said Arsenault. “He’s mobile, he’s capable of playing defence, he has a great serve and he was huge for us.”
Ryan was proud of the Raiders for refusing to quit and battling right to the final point. They trailed in the third set 22-14 but fought back to 23-21 before Gray clinched the title.
The players of the match were Nathan Swansburg (Gray) and John MacKinnon (Rural).