DCVI senior boys volleyball sweeps opening day games

Justin Ropp tips the ball over the net during one of the St. Marys DCVI senior boys volleyball team’s two wins on Sept. 25.

By Spencer Seymour

The St. Marys DCVI Senior Boys Volleyball Team picked up back-to-back wins over Goderich and Listowel on their first day of the regular season on Sept. 25.

Head coach Steve Chateauvert told the Independent his squad maintained a high standard of play for virtually the entire day.

“The consistency of our attack was really good,” said Chateauvert. “They were consistently consistent, and that’s incredibly important in volleyball. A difference of five, six, or seven points really isn’t anything, and teams can get momentum and go on runs really fast if you get the right combination of players in the right spots, so you have to have consistency to manage that.”

The only lacklustre set for the team came in the first game against Goderich, when the Salukis dropped the opening set 25-17. St. Marys refocused heading into the second set and never looked back, beating Goderich 25-22 and 25-23 to take their first victory of the season.

Chateauvert noted that the Salukis had a strong bounce back in the final two sets after settling into the game.

“It was one of the first games of the year, so everyone was a little tentative at first,” Chateauvert said. “In the first set, we didn’t serve very well and that showed in the score, but I thought they got their feet under them after that. They passed the ball pretty well all day, and they hit the ball really well. Simon (Taylor) and Justin (Ropp) on the left side were pretty consistent. Andrew (Nanaphosy) and Peyton (Wynands) played pretty well on the right side. I had told them to just keep swinging, and eventually they’ll go where we want them to, and they did.”

Chateauvert added the team’s passing has been a focus of every practice early on this season.

“We do a lot of passing every practice, and I’m a big believer in having good first contact,” Chateauvert said. “If you get a good first pass, whatever that looks like, then you’re able to give your setters some options, and we did that pretty well for most of the day.”

The Salukis continued their strong play from the final two sets in their second game of the day against Listowel, winning 25-14 and 25-22 in straight sets.

Once again, the team’s offensive consistency was the big factor in their win.

“Especially in the first set, they played really well. We just maintained that consistent attack, and we started to run a little bit quicker offence out of the middle, which you can only do if you get a good first pass. Cyler (Pickering) and Parker (Levy) both ran a couple of really good quicks out of the middle and worked on their spacing a little bit, and they were successful in doing that.”

Looking ahead, Chateauvert mentioned he wants the team to continue creating more options for their heaviest hitters.

“I think I want to see a more varied attack,” said Chateauvert. “We want the other team to never know where the ball is going to go next, so we’ll be trying to work with my middles on being loud and calling for the ball, which they started to do more in our two games, which was great. When they do that, it opens up one-on-one contests on the outside, and whether it’s Justin (Ropp), Simon (Taylor), Henry (Switzer), or Zach (Larmer), they’re going to put those one-on-one balls away.”