The St. Clair Colts captured the LSSAA Junior Boy’s Volleyball Championship Friday night at Lambton College with a 3-1 victory of the St. Christopher Cyclones. The Colts, who had been perfect all season, were kept close by the Cyclones through the first two sets, but the Colts pulled away in the final two sets of the best of five to take the championship.

Things did not start well for the Colts at the beginning, as St. Christopher’s jumped out to an early five point lead, 7-2. But the Colts would start a come back as Joel Leckie would kill two balls, and serve an ace to get the Colts back to within one, as the Colts go on a four point run, and eventually take a five point lead themselves, 14-9. Part of that Colt twelve points included six services by Leckie. Aaron Mills of the Cyclones would cut into the lead with two service points, and Doug Kee would provide a block to bring the Cyclones to with one. The Cyclones would eventually retake the lead after the Colts missed chances, and hit the ball wide or long of the court. They would call a timeout to try and settle the boys down.

The Cyclones would power on, still capitalizing on the Colt mistakes and open up three point lead after being down by five, as Doug Kee would stay on serve for three points to give the Cyclones the edge. But St. Clair would begin to fight back, and cut into the Cyclones lead, scoring six in a row to retake the lead 22-20, as fouls at the net begin to hurt St. Christopher’s. Leckie would add two kills at the end of the first, and St. Clair would come from behind twice to take the first set 25-21.

The second set was close to start, as both teams broke serves and were tied 5-5. But after Cyclone misses, the Colts opened up a large point lead as Brian Grant serves for St. Clair to give them multiple points. The Cyclones would call time out down seven to calm their players, as St. Clair lead 17-10. Both teams would miss serves into the net, and the Colt lead would begin to drop, as the Cyclones go on a point run to reduce the lead to just three. The Colts would only manage to break a point in the Cyclone run, as they continued to cut the lead, and the Colts start to make errors of their own, cutting the once seven point lead down to just one. Evan Chamberlain would get the kill for the Cyclones to tie the game at 24, after the Colts had two set points.

The Colts would get another point from Leckie, but two long left hits by the Colts would give the lead back to the Cyclones. With a block at the net on the next service, the Cyclones, once down eight points, would come back to take the set 27-25.

A long rally would open the first third set, and the Colts again would open up a substantial point lead on the Cyclones. Adam Waller’s service helped build a Colt eight point lead, but the Cyclones would get points back with a block by Doug Kee, and three service points by Aaron Mills. But five points is as close the Cyclones would get in the third set, as St. Clair’s early lead was to much for the Cyclones to come back from this time. St. Clair would open their lead to nine points, 21-13, and although St. Christopher’s would cut the lead down to six, but a tip over by Justin Elipani would and an error on the Cyclones would give the Colts the set, 25-17, and the third set.

Adam King of the Cyclones would start the fourth set with an ace, and the teams would battle back and forth, but St. Clair would again open up a five point lead. Both teams would exchange points on errors, and Doug Kee would keep the Cyclones in the match with a kill, to keep the Colts to within four. Leckie would be blocked twice at the net on kill attempts, as the Colt lead started to fall away. But St. Clair would get three points out of the server, and reopen their five point lead 20-15.

With two points to go before the championship, St. Christopher’s would call a timeout to try and regroup. St. Clair would have three match points, but the Cyclones would score to cut the lead to four. But the lead was just to much, as the Cyclones would miss on an error, and the colts would take the fourth and final set, 25-20.

With the victory, the Colts have now won nine of the last eleven Junior Boys championships since 2000-2001, losing only to St. Chris in 2004-2005, and last year.

Brian Grant was named player of the game for the Colts, while Doug Kee was player of the game for the Cyclones.