Norwossa Champs!

Ken Johnston

Gold is such a precious metal and winning it is even more precious!
That is exactly what the Rainy River High School Junior Girls Volleyball team did last Thursday in Atikokan. The 12-2 first place season record earned them a berth right to the gold medal match.
The second and third place teams, Kenora’s Thomas Aquinas and the Atikokan Voyageurs battled it out to see who would contend for gold.
RRHS coach Michelle Tymkin said she was uneasy about who they would face as the Owls had had tough matches with each of Atikokan and T.A. during the regular season. “We split with each T.A. and Atikokan,” said Tymkin.
Out of the 14 matches during the season RRHS won 8 of them in three straight games. However, against T.A. and Atikokan they all went to 5 games.
T.A. defeated Atikokan to face the RRHS Owls for gold. At first it looked like the Owls were going to run away with it all winning the first two games 25-22 and 25-15. “We thought we had it in the third but lost 25-23.”
It was another close one in the fourth game with T.A. winning 25-22. “It was really, really intense and there were tears in the 4th set,” said Tymkin.
In the fifth and deciding game it came down to the wire. “At one point were down 11-9, but we came back to win 15-13,” said Tymkin.
RRHS coach Jeff Rajala said, “They all played really well.” Rajala said he never expected the team to go all the way. “As long as they got better over the season I would be happy.”
Tymkin who herself was part of a team that went as far as the All Ontarios in the early 1980s said, “This by far is bigger. To watch their faces and see all their hard work rewarded was far better.”
Unfortunately Norwossa is as far as the girls can go, but Tymkin noted that five of the juniors will be moving up to seniors next year and at that level they can go to the All Ontarios.
She is confident that the juniors will have a good year next year as well as six of them will be returning and she plans to coach again.
Three of the players have also been selected to tryout for a regional volleyball team. Corrissa Hanson, Britany Jasper and Roxanne Handorgan were selected in Atikokan.
Other sports do well
Earlier in the week the Owls boys and girls curling teams competed in Norwossas. The girls consisting of Heather McLean, Giselle Bonot, Keshia Brigham and Heidi Heyens won bronze with a 3-2 record and 6 points.
The boys, consisting of Trevor Bonot, Jason Seguin, Kevin Nordberg, Matt McQuaker and Chris Munro finished just out of the medals at 4th with 2-1-2 and six points.
The junior boys basketball team also travelled to Norwossas last Wednesday and came home with bronze medals.
All and all it was an incredible sports week at RRHS.