Persistence paid off for the Oxbow Black Knights on Saturday.
After losing twice to the host ECS Elecs during round-robin play, Oxbow mounted a comeback in the first set and won the second en route to a 25-22, 25-20 win over the Elecs in the final of the school's senior boys' volleyball tournament.
Estevan had defeated Oxbow 25-22, 25-22 in the tournament opener on Friday afternoon and won the second match between the weekend's top two teams 25-23, 25-16 on Saturday.
Hours later, the squads matched up again in the final and the Black Knights overcame an early deficit to take the victory.
Elecs head coach Nathan Johnson said he was at a loss to explain why his club has trouble beating Oxbow in big games.
"We played these guys in the bronze medal game in Moose Jaw (the previous weekend) and we played the exact same way. We can't seem to have the life that we have during round-robin play and I don't know how to explain that," he said. "I couldn't explain it then and I can't explain it now. Oxbow plays us tough all the time and they were very eager to win. They did a great job. The better team won that game.
"For some reason Oxbow seems to get up for the big game against us and that's great, I wish we were doing the same thing. It's frustrating, definitely, at this point, to watch us play at that level and knowing we've got better play in us."
Johnson said the loss can't be laid solely at the feet of the team's youth.
"In saying that we're a young team, we've got three Grade 12 boys that are playing the same way as all the young guys too. It's not just the young to blame."
The eight-team tournament began with two pools on Friday, with teams playing three matches apiece. On Saturday, the pools were reordered with the top two squads from one side and the bottom two from the other forming one group.
Aside from the senior and junior Elecs, teams from Oxbow, Kipling, Carnduff, Redvers, Wolseley and Rocanville competed. The senior Elecs went undefeated through round-robin play. On Friday, they beat Carnduff 25-12, 25-12 and bested Redvers 25-23, 25-15, aside from the win over Oxbow.
On Saturday, they knocked off Rocanville 25-18, 25-18 and defeated the ECS juniors 25-11, 25-10 to advance to the semifinal against Redvers.
Despite a disappointing loss in the final, the tournament was beneficial for some of the team's younger players, Johnson said.
"What this tournament did, it allowed us to get a lot more playing time for some guys that weren't playing a whole bunch the last couple of weekends. Huge positive. Those guys played well. It was a big step for some of them.
"We'll go away from this and practice and keep working toward our goal of winning provincials."
The senior boys are in Yorkton the next two weekends, for a regular tournament this Friday and Saturday and regionals the next weekend.
The juniors, in the tournament to gain experience, went winless in the round-robin but held their own. Friday's action saw them lose 25-19, 25-17 to Wolseley, 25-16, 25-15 to Rocanville and 25-17, 25-11 to Kipling. On Saturday, the junior boys lost 25-3, 25-15 to Oxbow and 25-12, 25-11 to Rocanville.
