Bo Boxall, coach of the Princess Margaret Mustangs senior boys volleyball team, wants to see how his players respond to adversity in the Best of the West tournament this weekend.
“As a young team, we ultimately need to get touches on the volleyball, but we also need to realize that we can be one of the best teams in the province as long as we maintain our focus and our desire to compete on each point,” said Boxall. “From a skill perspective, we are working on our serve receive and our free ball passing. If we can pass more consistently we will be able to spread our offence out more effectively and that will allow us to find success.”
The Mustangs travel to Kelowna Friday for the tournament, co-hosted by the Kelowna Secondary
School Owls and UBCO, that goes until Saturday. The Mustangs, ranked eighth in B.C. at the AA level, faced the No. 5 ranked OkanaganMission Huskies Oct. 9 and lost to the older squad in three sets.
“When we make mistakes, we haven’t learned to rebound yet,” said Boxall, who is assisted by Terry Major. Kyle Kohlhauser was strong for the Mustangs, making good contact with the ball and dishing it off well. The Mustangs have also seen progress from Colton Van Camp, a setter making the jump from the junior level. Major said that Van Camp is close to regaining his touch from last year.
“With Colton setting well, our team is very competitive,” said Major. Playing in a three-team league, each school receives two bye weeks with no scheduled games.
The Mustangs had their first bye last week and used the chance to work with the Lakers. Boxall said with the two schools not competing in the same league, it’s good to get together so they can get the competition level up during practice.
“By the end of the practice, I think our coaches and Paul Mend with Pen Hi were very happy with our teams,” he said.