The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
The Hapnot Collegiate Institute Kopper Kings have done it again. They have won the Kodiak Invitational volleyball tournament two years running after defeating the Frontier Collegiate Raiders in two sets 25-14 and 26-24 at Creighton Community School on Saturday. "I have to say considering we have a young team Ð and this was supposed to be a year of rebuilding, which I still think it is Ð I think that our team exceeded my expectations," said Craig MacIntosh, the Kopper Kings coach. "It helps having Evan (Renard) here. He's a player that came up from Winnipeg, certainly helped the team. We still have lots of work to do. I still honestly believe that the finals were sloppier than they should have been. I think every single player that we have would agree with me. "It's nice to get a victory, but at the same time, to compete down south, volleyball's going to have to be at a higher caliber," he continued, "but we're going to enjoy the celebration in the time while we can here, and we're going to put in some hard work for two weeks and look forward to Portage." See P.# Con't from P.# Kopper Kings player Peter Weber felt the team did okay, but shared MacIntosh's feeling in they could have been better. "I think we just have to adjust to different teams we're playing and we have to read if they're going to hit or tip lots," Weber said. "They're (Frontier) clutch players. They're really good in the saving of the ball, and just stuff I've never seen before and they like to tip." While the first set for the Kopper Kings seemed easy to win, the second was a true battle. The Raiders had pushed the Kopper Kings to the limit as they came close to handing the champs a second set loss. Raiders coach Wayde Knight was more than happy with how his players performed. "Our boys they performed awesome being a two A school," Knight said. "We only had them together for about a week. We got a couple of practices, and I think by the end of the year we're going to be awesome and going through Zones and into Provincials." Knight said that he was very impressed with how his players stepped up their level of play and competed against the Kopper Kings. "We're really proud of them," said Knight, who was assisted by Rick Murnick. As for the Kodiaks, the boys team coached by Rick Hall finished third while the girls placed fourth. "I was really pleased, especially the way they finished the tournament," Hall said. After losing four games in a row, his team went on to win three of four games. "I believe they will have a good season," he said. "I haven't got any weak spots." Jason Straile, who coached the girls side, likely felt the opposite. "Earlier on in the tournament we did not play well," he said. "We didn't pass the ball. We didn't hit it. We pretty much didn't do much of anything. Against Hapnot we missed 16 serves in two games. Against Cranberry, we missed 10 unforced errors in serving, so it really hurt. See P.# Con't from P.# "Today (Saturday) our serving was a lot better. Made things closer," Straile added. "We were making our passes and hitting. I was really happy with todays performance, unlike yesterday." The remaining results are below: Girls Final - Pelican Lake vs. MBCI 19-25, 23-25 Boys Final Standings First Hapnot, second Frontier, third Creighton, fourth MBCI, fifth Churchill Girls Final Standings First MBCI, second Pelican Lake, third Hapnot, fourth Creighton, fifth Frontier.
