9 hours Ago By Thomas Friesen
The Neelin Spartans were happy to extend their season this late a year ago. Read this article for free: Already have an account? As we navigate through unprecedented times, our journalists are working harder than ever to bring you the latest local updates to keep you safe and informed. Now, more than ever, we need your support.
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Your pledge helps to ensure we provide the news that matters most to your community! The Neelin Spartans were happy to extend their season this late a year ago. Read unlimited articles for free today: Already have an account? The Neelin Spartans were happy to extend their season this late a year ago. Now that they’ve been to AAA junior varsity volleyball provincials, they want more.
“They are very, very excited,” said coach Levi Kanski. “It’s a core group of Grade 9s that had the opportunity last year to get their foot in the water for provincials and know what that atmosphere was like right away. “They’ve grown up a bit and now as a top team going into it, they have that ability to be seen as a threat.
” The Spartans are in the top power pool for the 12-team event beginning today in Neepawa. They face the Leo-Remillard Renards at 2 p.m.
, then the Westgate Wings at 5 o’clock. On Friday, they round out pool play against the defending champion Garden Valley Zodiacs of Winkler at 10 a.m.
The Spartans feel good about their chances after winning the Brandon High School Volleyball League final by sneaking past the Vincent Massey Vikings 3-2 in the deciding third match. “It was great. Even coming back from 2-0 was great, that gives us confidence going into provincials,” said Neelin captain Aiden Moore.
“We’ve got some tough teams we’re going to be playing and we’re the lowest-ranked in our pool but we’ll show up and hopefully we’ll be able to make some noise.” Moore has shouldered a lot of responsibility in his young volleyball career, as both the captain and setter this season. He’s been both the hype machine after a big point and the voice of reason on the bench after a disappointing set.
“I try and do as much as I can for the boys, get them fired up, get them going. Even just telling them they got the next one, I try and help,” Moore said. “Hardest thing is getting out of it after a mess up or a missed serve.
I’ve been working well, I’ve been connecting well with the boys with the sets and we’re doing well. I’m making them look good, that’s what I got to do. “They make it so much easier.
Even if it’s a bad set, they get it over and it makes it so much easier.” Moore has plenty of options when running the offence, with a clear one in six-foot-three left side Case Ashcroft, who racked up 17 kills to lead all scorers in the last city final match. Clark Goran played left side last year, then switched to middle blocker with Team Manitoba in the summer and stayed there this fall, besides the last match of the city final when the Spartans were missing two starters due to illness.
They were still strong without Jackson Burgess and Griffin Hargreaves, but are even better at full strength and should be there this weekend. “This is a very adaptable group that if change is made on the fly, they can make those adjustments very quickly with next to no trouble,” Kanski said. Last season, the Spartans were in the bottom pool and won all three matches, plus their first playoff game before losing to the bronze-medallist St.
John’s Ravenscourt Eagles. “Since everyone on the floor were all freshmen, that adversity went up against them and they didn’t know how to react,” Kanski said. “They’ve learned from it and we’ve played in a lot of big games for the city final and other tournaments and they know what it takes.
” Neelin finished fourth in the Brandon University JV tournament in September, then won Neepawa’s early-October event. It lost the JV Viking Classic final to Massey, then swept both its matches in interzone qualifying in Swan River to earn the spot. The playoffs begin Friday, with play-in games and quarterfinals.
The semifinals are Saturday at 10 and 11:15 a.m., followed by the bronze- and gold-medal matches at 2 and 3:30 p.
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