Boyle School’s senior boys volleyball team were all smiles and no yawns after claiming their home Red Eye Tournament trophy at 12:50 a.m. Saturday morning.
Both the senior boys and girls team participated in the school’s annual event that runs from 4 p.m. Nov. 13, to 1 a.m. Nov. 14.
“It’s an interesting tournament because it really shows the teams that are conditioned and ready to play multiple games in one day,” said boys head coach Joel Sawka.
“You could have skill, but you might not have the endurance to go the five games in one day. But if you’re a well-rounded team — that’s what we are — you have the stamina, the strength and the skill to go the five games. You also have to play constantly throughout those five games.”
The boys had a good start to the event, finishing first in their pool with a 2-1 record, after falling to Thorhild in a best of three.
The team would end up facing Thorhild again in the semifinals, where they turned things around and defeated Thorhild in a best of three.
The boys then went on to face New Myrnam in the final that began just after 12:15 a.m. The Huskies showed very little fatigue and claimed the title in straight sets, 25-20 and 25-15.
Sawka attributes his team’s success to their of hard work throughout the season.
“I’ve had these guys together for the last three years,” he said.
“It’s just a accumulation of experience that they’ve acquired over the last few months, their hard work at practice and each tournament that we go to. They keep building a little bit more each time and it helped us get the win.
“Every practice, every game that we play, we always work on something. They each have their own little issue that they have. I try to work with each player to get them to the maximum potential player that they can be. That’s all I can ask for.”
The senior girls also had a strong tournament finishing second.
The girls went undefeated during the round robin and semifinal, but ran out of gas when they faced Beaux Lac School in the finals, falling two straight 25-9 and 25-19.
“Any time we have met (Beaux Lac) this year we would lose to them, so it was pretty exciting beating them in the round robin,” said coach Sheri Bencharsky.
“You could tell that the girls were so tired by that time and we lost one of our players at practice she fractured her knee. We have people out on vacation because it’s the fall break.
“Being down a few player changes the dynamics, but the girls played amazing. They did a good job.”
