Raiders claim 2 NOSSA AA Volleyball titles

The Chippewa Raiders Sr. and Jr. Boys Volleyball teams have won NOSSA "AA" and will be continuing on to OFSAA in Sarnia on Thursday.

Against the odds due to injuries, the Senior boys were able to defeat all opponents in round robin play except for Notre Dame College from Sudbury who defeated the Raiders 2 sets to 1. The Raiders made some changes in their court strategy and were able to defeat Notre Dame in the NOSSA finals 2 sets to 1.

The Chippewa Raiders Middle player Stephen Humphrey was moved over to play right side due to the injury of Kristofer Faucon last week in the NDA finals at Widdifield. Faucon has been healing well and hopes to play to some extent at OFSAA on Thursday.

Humphrey and Raider's setter Brendan Lafontaine were able to develop a quick tempo attack on the right side which proved to be very effective throughout the Championship matches. Rookie Michael Bodley and Erik Faucon defended the net with force throughout the all games.

Senior Power Hitter Alex Conti was very effective in defense and consistently attacked the ball with force in the front row.

With starting Power hitter Philip Fischer injured, rookie Adam Birosh filled in and proved to be a leading force on the Left side of the net. Lafontaine's setting adjustments with the new hitter were quick and powerful.

Lead by the Junior boy's captain Nick Tumino and setter Jack Daly the Raiders were second after round robin play due to a loss against Loellen Secondary School. Chippewa would go on to defeat the Loellen Knights in the finals with their senior boys cheering them on from the stands after having won their championship match.

The Junior Raiders defeated Loellen in the finals after pushing through with a win in the first set of 25-22. Although the boys fought hard they lost the second set narrowly with a final score of 25-27 for the Knights. In the tie breaker match the Raiders were able to dig their feet in and defeat the Knights 15-13 with strong defense and hard hitting attacks from the front row.

Raiders Championship Photo includes:

Back Row: Senior Coach Dez Forget, Junior Coach Colleen Egan, Kenny Harrison, Jake Chatelaine, Alex Wheeler, Kenny Appleby, Nick Conti, Graham Jaskula, Adam Birosh, Zach Wilson, Senior Coach Tyler Kidd.

Second Row: Nick Landry, Matt Souliere, Philip Fischer, Jack Daley, Erik Faucon, Michael Bodley, Ryan Darbyson, Jan Souliere.

Front Row: Ryan Daley, Jackson Beam, Kristofer Faucon, Stephen Humphrey, Nick Tumino, Brendan Lafontaine, Alex Conti, Sully Scott.

Submitted to BayToday.ca