The E.L. Crossley Cyclone held off a strong challenge from the Westland Spartans to capture the Niagara Regional High School Athletic Association senior boys AA Zone 3 volleyball championship.

The Cyclone prevailed 27-25, 25-15, 17-25, 25-21 and now advance to the Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association (SOSSA) AA playdowns Thursday at Sir Winston Churchill.

“They’re a good team and we knew going into it that it wasn’t going to be easy, that we’d have to kind of battle it out with them for sure, that they wanted it just as much as we did,” Crossley co-coach Michelle Gibson said. “They are a talented team so it was a battle. It was not handed to us, that’s for sure.”

The Cyclone, who had a 4-2 mark in the regular season, have struggled at times with continuity this year.

“We’ve had some injuries with various players throughout the season,” said Gibson, who co-coaches with Jessica Kropac. “A lot of our athletes are excelling in other sports as well so you we aren’t always able to all be together because someone’s at off at OFSAA (Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations) golf or at OFSAA cross country or they’re excelling at a hockey tournament. 

“So we’re kind of being pulled in a lot of different directions this year and we’ve played many games without our setter or we’ve had injuries. So it’s been an uphill climb for sure.”

Gibson said the players have been receptive to extra help.

“We often have a few lunch meetings with them and we really work on the mental side of the game that’s equally important,” she said. “We’ve tried to provide each athlete with individual strategies for what they need to do to rise to the occasion or where they need to be to perform at their optimal level despite less than optimal conditions. We’ve definitely taken time to focus on that aspect of the game and the athletes have been great in terms of knowing that they might be asked at any moment to play a position that they’re not used to playing and they’ve been wonderful to rise to that occasion and do their best and have some fun along the way.”

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