They may have fallen short of their goal of making OFSAA, but Hal High’s senior boys’ volleyball team did themselves and their school proud during the COSSA finals Nov. 13 on home turf.
“It was heartbreaking, but there’s a certain peace to it because we played just unbelievably well,” coach Justin Collins said.
He added, he and co-coach, Mike Gaffney, “talked about how proud we were of them because they exceeded our expectations in a million different ways. Obviously, you want to come away with a win, but it’s hard not to look at it and say, ‘you know what? while we would have liked a different outcome, it was a success as well’.”
The team won their first match against North Hastings High School 3-2 to make the final, before losing to Quinte Christian High School Eagles 3-2 to take silver.
“Our goal was to get to OFSSA and we missed it, but a silver medal at COSSA is more than this school has ever had for boys’ volleyball,” Collins added.
The coach reflected on how he and Gaffney were fishing more than four years ago and pondered what they could do with some incoming Grade 8 athletes if they could work with them from Gr. 9 to Gr. 12. Four of six graduates have been with them since the start. The coaches have watched them grow as volleyball players, and as young men.
As for next year, Carlito Barbosa and Isaac Borgdorff will be returning and Collins said, “we have a strong group of juniors coming up.”
In fact, the boys’ junior volleyball team also won COSSA silver last Thursday.
