Feature Article November 12, 2003
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SLHS
Comes From Behind to Win KASSA Title in Seniors Boys Volleyball
Two
sets into the match between Sharbot Lake High School (SLHS) and
Ernestown High School (ESS), held at Queens University on Monday
night, it looked as ESS was going to wrap up the Senior Boys
Volleyball championship. ESS was playing a very strong match and SLHS
didnt seem to be able to keep up and were making uncharacteristic
errors. ESS won first set 25-16 and the second 25-19.
The large, noisy, cheering section for SLHS, made up of students, parents, staff, teachers, community members and former teachers from the school, were now almost silent as the ESS supporters were buzzing with anticipation of the title. It took an impromptu tumbling run by Parhams own Rachel Neadow, whose brother is on the SLHS team, to bring some life back into the SLAHS fans.
Then, slowly, the momentum in the Kingston and Area Secondary School Athletic Association (KASSA) Boys Volleyball Final began to shift. Although ESS led 22-21 at one point in the set, tantalisingly close to the title, SLHS eventually won the third set 25-23. The fourth set started of close, with both teams playing some of their best volleyball of the night. With the Sharbot Lake leading 6-5, Justin (aka Slanky) Thompson, the SLHS captain and its most dominant player, finally took the match into his own hands. Earlier in the match, Thompson had been having trouble keeping his powerful spikes in play, but he had found his mark by this point, scoring three service aces during a five point run that put SLHS ahead 11-5. They easily won the set 25-13, setting up a 15 point tie breaker for the championship.
In the tie-breaker SLHS got off to an early lead, but Ernestown crept back, before Slanky Thompson again went on a winning service run and Sharbot Lake pulled ahead 11-6. ESS didnt give up however, fighting back to 13-10, before SLHS took the last two points, winning the final the set 15-10 to take the championship.
The SLHS fans went wild, storming the court and helping their team celebrate its historic victory.
In the five years SLHS has been participating in the KASSA league, they had never progressed past the semi-finals, in any sport, until last week.
SLHS played its semi-final match against Loyalist Collegiate Vocational Institution (LCVI) last Thursday, and in a way, that was the most stunning upset of the season. LCVI was the seasons points leader in KASSA, going through the season undefeated, whereas SLHS finished 4th in the standings at 7-3, and the game was played at the LCVI home court. Nonetheless, SLHS swept the match 3-0.
The SLHS victories in the semi-finals and the finals are all remarkable given the fact it is the only A school (under 500 students) in the ten team league. All of the other schools are rated AA (500-900 students) or AAA (900 students or more).
Brian English, one of the coaches of the SLHS Boys Volleyball team, said the team this year has been working very hard, and progressed quite a bit from the level they were playing at last year.
We have basically he same players as were on the team last year, and that extra year of experience has made a big difference. The boys also played in some pretty tough tournaments this year, which helped their play. You always like to see a team peak at the right time, and weve been playing really well since we won a silver medal at a big tournament at Queens three weeks ago.
But the real goal is the EOSSA tournament. Thats what weve been working towards all year, he said.
EOSSA is the Eastern Ontario Secondary School Athletic Association. That tournament will have taken place by the time this paper goes to press, being held in Carlton Place on Wednesday, November 12. In EOSSA, High Schools are separated into A, AA, or AAA divisions according to size,
Going into the six team tournament, SLHS was seeded 2nd behind LEscale High School from Rockland, near Ottawa. The third ranked team was St. Joes High School, also from the Rockland area. SLHS will have had to progress through the semi-finals, and then beaten either LEscale or St. Joes, in order to progress to the All Ontario tournament. For the last two years, SLHS has finished 3rd at EOSSA.
If we can get through EOSSA we will have a good chance at the provincial level, English said, because St. Joes was the winner at that level last year and LEscale finished third.
