The tournament champion F.P. Walshe Flyers. Front row, from left: Branson Orr, Surus Yilmax, AJ Poytress, Rylan Baxter, Kerem Aydin, James Neels and Liam Beer. Back row, from left: Ethan Baxter, Anthony Burdett, Jordan Gunderson, Kornell Vandenhoek, Logan Boot, Carter Henderson Ben Oosterwijk, Nathan Keller and Travis Loyst.
The F.P. Walshe Flyers rocketed into the 2024 high school boys volleyball season Friday by winning the championship of their own tournament.
The Flyers defeated Stirling Lakers in two sets Friday night to claim the title of the preseason tournament.
The senior Flyers are Branson Orr, AJ Poytress, Carter Henderson, Kerem Aydin, Logan Boot, James Neels, Liam Beer, Kornell Vandenhoek, Leo Korkunov, Surus Yilmax and Rylan Baxter.
The Flyers, Lakers, Vulcan County Central Hawks, Livingstone Sabres from Lundbreck and Noble Central Blades played a round-robin format, with the top two teams advancing to the championship.
F.P. Walshe opened the tournament Friday afternoon with a sweep of Noble Central Blades.
The Flyers won the first set 25-8 and took the second set 25-13.
In their next match, the Flyers swept Livingstone Sabres, winning the first set 25-17.
The Sabres battled in the second set but the Flyers prevailed 25-23.
The Flyers were right back on the court to take on Stirling Lakers.
F.P. Walshe extended its winning streak to six sets, sweeping the Lakers 25-14 and 25-18.
The Flyers suffered their first two defeats in the final match of round-robin, losing 25-21 and 25-19 to County Central Hawks.
Their record of six wins and two losses following round-robin put the Flyers in first place.
Stirling and County Central tied for second place with identical 5-3 records, with the Lakers winning the tiebreaker, having beaten the Hawks 25-19 and 25-13 in round-robin.
Livingstone placed fourth with four wins and four losses and Noble Central was fifth with a win and seven losses.
That set up a championship match between the host Flyers and Stirling Lakers.
The Flyers won a hard-fought 25-20 decision in the first set to open the match.
In the second set the Flyers were leading 22-18 but the Lakers scored four points to tie it.
F.P. Walshe settled and scored the next three points to win 25-22 to claim the tournament title.
