AWG Volleyball teams gunning to qualify for medal round

The Yukon's junior male and junior female volleyball teams saw their first competition at the Arctic Winter Games on Monday, each playing three matches in total.

The Yukon’s junior male and junior female volleyball teams saw their first competition at the Arctic Winter Games on Monday, each playing three matches in total.
Both teams continued to improve as the day went on and the highlight came with an impressive final match victory for the girls’ team over Greenland.

The girls won in two straight sets by a score of (25-15) and (25-14).
“I am exceptionally pleased,“ said junior female volleyball coach Al Foster. “

Everyone contributed (on Monday), all my players had a role, so I was really pleased with how they showed up.“
The junior female team began Monday’s competition against Alberta North and despite a hard fought match, the team ended up losing in two sets by a score of (24-26) and (23-25).
In their next contest, the Team Yukon girls got off to a great start, winning their opening set against the Northwest Territories (N.W.T.) in a very decisive score of (25-16).

Unfortunately the team just couldn’t manage another victory against the NWT and after dropping their next set by a close score of (21-25), the group ended up losing the deciding set of the match by a final score of (4-15).
Team Yukon really found their stride in the final match of the day, which was against Greenland.

This proved to be their best contest on Monday and the girls wasted little time in polishing off Greenland for the team’s first victory of the competition in the two-set matchup. The final score was an impressive (25-15) and (25-14).
Foster credits the win to the team overcoming some nerves and returning to playing to their strengths, which is more of a power style of game.
Before the medal round begins, the team will play a total of 10 matches, which is a double round robin format. In this format, Team Yukon will play every squad in their pool twice.

The only two teams Team Yukon hasn’t faced yet are Nunavut and Alaska, who are one of the favourites to win the gold.

Alaska went undefeated on Monday without dropping a set.
The Team Yukon girls will play both Nunavut and Alaska today as well as another match against Northern Alberta.
Although Alaska has such a strong team this year at the Games, Foster is confident about his team’s chances of playing them later today.
“With Alaska, I know they have some vulnerabilities and if we can take advantages of those vulnerabilities then we will be okay,“ he said.

“We just have to expose those because right now they are so big and they are older than most of us, so it is a little bit intimidating, but I saw some holes in their game already that we can take advantage of.“
He said finishing with a win yesterday was a major confidence booster for the team.
“That sets the tone for (today),“ Foster said. “(Today) is a huge day for us in terms of being in the standings, so to go in with a win and have that momentum is crucial.

It is a confidence builder because everyone is nervous here; there are butterflies, if you can get a win that takes care of those butterflies.“
Foster hopes to finish the round robin somewhere in the top three and said he is certain about the team’s chances of making it to the medal round.

“I don’t think it is even a question. As long as we just keep playing our game, we should be there,“ he said.

“It is a tough, arduous schedule, but I know we are ready for it.“
The top four teams in the pool qualify for the playoffs, with the first place team playing fourth and second playing against third.
Foster said they will know by Wednesday if they qualified for the semi-finals.
Although the Team Yukon junior male team played very well in all three of their matches, they still finished with a 0-3 record.
Their first match was against Northern Alberta, and after dropping the first set (13-25), the team came back to make a game out of it, but just fell short the next set (21-25) and lost.
In their next match against Greenland, Team Yukon played two outstanding sets, but just fell short of winning both of them.

They lost the first set (22-25), while the second set was even closer at (26-28).
The team’s final match for the day was against Nunavut, and the team lost once again in straight sets by a score of (16-25) and (23-25).
Head coach Don Fedus said despite not winning on Monday, he is confident heading into today’s competition.
“We haven’t played poorly and our kids’ skill level is there,“ he said. “We have good leaders on our team who want to turn it around and obviously it is not going to be easy, but we will have to work hard for it.

The character of the guys is they are not going to quit, so it is going to be a fun day (today).“
The boy’s team will play a total of three matches today, which will be against the N.W.T., Alaska and Northern Alberta.

They are also playing in a six team pool and have a double round robin format.

Fedus thinks the team will probably have to win four of their remaining seven matches to qualify for the semi-finals.

He said he thinks they improved as the Monday’s competition went on.
“Our first match of the day got some of the kinks out and some of the rust from not playing,“ he said.

“(In) the other games after that our competitiveness was much higher and now it’s about staying focused and be ready for every point.“
He said at this stage it is important for the team not to look too far ahead.
“For us now we have to look at the first one as the most important, and we need to get a win in that game and build from there,“ Fedus said.

“We can’t be looking ahead to anything we have to play one game at a time, one set at a time. And focus on having little success to build towards greater success.“
Jake Schneider has been playing volleyball for seven years, but this is his first Arctic Winter Games competing in the sport.
He was surprised that the team finished with a 0-3 record on Monday, but said that he thinks they can turn it around today.
“I feel pretty good because it is a new day, we get to start over,“ Schneider said.

“We just put this day behind us and keep going forward.“
Schneider said he thinks the team will be able to win four of seven and make it into the semi-finals.
“I am very confident in my team. We just had a rough day (on Monday), but we are going to bring it back,“ he said.

“There are seven more games and we are going to be looking to win every one of them.“