For a while it looked as though nerves were going to crack the Leamington Lions during the WECSSAA AA sr. boys volleyball final. The visiting Kingsville Cavaliers looked strong taking the third set 25-17 to take a 2-1 lead in the match. The Cavs had the home team bent early in the 4th set. "I'm not gonna lie. I thought we had it." said senior Matt Mayheux. "We were up a decent amount but we just gotta take it one point at a time and they kept chipping away. They got in our heads and we eventually gave it up."
Leamington came back to win the set 25-22 and carried the momentum into the tie-breaking set with a convincing 15-6 win to capture the AA title. "Feels so great. They had a really good team last year. This year same thing. Really good team but our energy just pushed us though." said right-side hitter Andy Groening as the Lions took the match 3-2 (25-21,16-25,25-17,25-22,15-6). "We were all down in the third one, fourth one came back. Fifth one we just kept that energy rolling."
"They made us work." said Lions' middle Zakary Augustine, who was a manace against the Cavs throughout the match. "It just came down to who could fight harder. We came out on top."
For graduating seniors like Mayheux, who won the title a year ago, the rivalry against Leamington was fun and the experience of playing for the Cavs, a memory of a lifetime. "No more high school volleyball. It's a bit sad but had the best time of my life."
Leamington will host SWOSSA next week looking to earn a berth at the provincial championships later this month. "We're a bunch of good volleyball players and we're really dedicated to learning and getting better." said Augustine, "Our main goal is to make it OFSAA. Win it all for the school, for ourselves."
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