The Richard S. Fowler male volleyball team came through in the clutch to duplicate what the female Falcons achieved in Thursday’s junior high finals.
The Fowler Falcons completed the historic sweep of the Tier I city championships in the St. Albert Physical Education Council league by stifling the Lorne Akins Gators in four sets at Bellerose Composite High School.
“It’s unexplainable what we did,” said captain Chad Boelee after the post-match Playoff Cup and banner presentation. “The girls did a great job and it feels so great to win both.”
The guys duplicated what the girls did by disposing of the defending SAPEC champions in their respective finals and the 25-22, 18-25, 25-17, 25-19 conquest of the Gators was extra special.
“We had a hard loss last year and it meant a lot just to come back and play with everything we had,” said Boelee, one of eight returnees from the team’s 11-25, 25-20, 25-22, 14-25, 15-17 shortcoming against the Gators.
“We took it pretty hard last year so we wanted to come back and get a little bit of revenge this year,” said Boelee, a smooth Grade 9 setter and the team’s player of the match. “There was a bit of pressure with all the fans and pretty much the reputation (of the Gators with a record 16 SAPEC banners), so it’s really great what we did.”
School spirit shone bright as the Fowler faithful raised the roof when Eric Hartman sealed the deal with a thunderous hit.
“I told my setter, Chad, if you pass me the ball I will put it down for you and we’ll win this and he trusted me to do that,” said Hartman, a Grade 8 power. “It was just really exciting to get the last point.”
It also tied the bow on a perfect 11-0 (33 GW/4 GL) SAPEC season for Fowler after going 8-3 (28 GW/11 GL) last year.
“That’s like a big exclamation mark in the end for us,” Boelee said.
Visit StAlbertToday.ca to view the team’s banner picture.
Fowler ended the first set with a strong flourish after trailing 15-11 as the Gators benefitted from contributions by Kane Miller and Austin Walter.
A run of seven points, including three off Chase Popowich’s serving, made it 22-17 Fowler.
It was 22-21 when Kaizen Miranda punched the ball to the floor and 23-22 when Reeve Arlinghaus riddled the Gators with a timely hit.
Hartman closed out the set with one of his several deadly spikes in the contest.
The Gators rebounded in the next set during a scoring spree that turned an 8-6 lead into a commanding 18-8 advantage with Andrew Moric and Luke Buchanan providing quality serves while Walter and captain Seni Adekunle enjoyed success banging the ball.
Walter, a six-foot-one Grade 9 power, was the player of the match for the Gators, 9-2 (28 GW/15 GL) this season with both loss against the Fowler and the first was 19-25, 6-25, 21-25 Oct. 1 at Fowler.
The Gators finished off the set with Buchanan’s net presence resulting in a pair of points leading up to a pinpoint Moric serve to widen the gap to 24-17.
“We came out a little bit cold and they went on a run. We tried to come back and it was just a little too late,” said Boelee, 14. “After that, we just got better and better each set. We got the middles going, our power was good all day, we were feeding right side a lot and we just played a really great game.”
A determined Fowler side piled up the points in the third set with sizeable leads of 10-4 and 18-8 with players like Nikolai Belyea, Boelee and Arlinghaus spearheading the attack.
The set ended with Popowich’s block at 24-15 and his spike for the 25th point.
There was no stopping Fowler in the fourth set and victory was within reach. A couple of blocks by Popowich for points pushed the team into an early lead and a five-point run to extend the margin to 14-7 was highlighted by two heavy hits by Belyea and Tanner Gomes’ slick serving.
The Gators pulled to within one at 14-13 before Fowler rallied off six straight points with Popowich’s block, a serve by Boelee and a play by Arlinghaus for a key point forced the defending champs to call a timeout.
It was a done deal with a spike by Arlinghaus at 22-16, a tipped ball by Hartman at 23-18 and Miranda’s block at 24-19 before Hartman hammered home the final point in the team’s undefeated championship season.
“All the boys deserved this win for the hard work and practise they put in and that helps in games,” said Hartman, 13. “It was a fun season. When you’re representing a whole school and you finally win it, it's crazy.”
