THUNDER BAY – For the first time in nearly two generations, the Hammarskjold Vikings are senior boys volleyball champions.
To be exact, the title drought last 37 years, the last championship coming in 1986, likely when a lot of their parents were in high school themselves, if not still in elementary school.
The Vikings, who finished the regular season 10-0, dropping just a single set in running the table, needed the minimum three sets to finish off the four-time defending champion Westgate Tigers, downing them 25-18 in the opening set, 25-15 in the second and finishing off the championship match with a 25-16 triumph, George MacGregor serving up a pair of aces to close it out.
“It feels pretty great right now,” MacGregor said. “The Hamm senior boys haven’t won the SSSAA since the 1980s, so it feels pretty great to finally have a dominant team that could take over and win.
“We’re just really happy to win all three sets and only lose one set all season long and even just winning a SSSAA AAA championship feels pretty amazing.”
What an accomplishment, said Hammarskjold coach Emma Korolenko, whose team will host the NWOSSA championship, starting on Friday in their home gym, the same venue that delivered Monday night’s win.
It’s been a long time coming, she added.
“It feels incredible. This group of athletes has worked really hard in the season and over the last few years with different coaches to get themselves to this point, where they’re able to win and bring home a championship for the first time in so long for Hammarskjold,” Korolenko said.
“It’s very surreal, very proud moment. I’m excited for the boys.”
The Vikings coach said losing to the Tigers in last year’s final was plenty of motivation for the team, not to mention the school’s recent volleyball pedigree.
“It was a really big opportunity for them to come back and show them what Vikings are made of and it was their opportunity to come out and shine and put Hammarskjold on the map,” Korolenko said.
The Vikings and Tigers played a tight first set, but the home side pulled away with a mini 5-0 run that stretched their lead to seven, ultimately the margin of victory in the set.
Westgate held an early 4-3 lead in the second, but the Vikings rattled off seven straight points to up their lead from 15-11 to 22-11 en route to a 10-point win.
The Tigers made a game of it in the fourth, rallying from a 15-8 deficit, closing the gap to 17-14, but ran out of steam.
MacGregor’s final two serves were a fitting end to a match that was never really in question.
“It does feel pretty great to finally get those serves in and not miss any when it really counts, at the end. I saw that ball drop and I just knew that it was in. I was just waiting for the call.”
It went their way and a celebration nearly four decades in the making was under way.
In the junior final, St. Patrick upset top-seeded Westgate 3-2 to win the championship.
