The Lockerby Vikings have not captured a SDSSAA senior boys volleyball banner since 2013.

Perhaps this is their year.

Already boasting a 5-0 record in league play and looking forward to a November 2nd showdown with the Lasalle Lancers, the Vikes made it back to back tournament final victories over their New Sudbury rivals recently, laying claim to the 2023 Horizon Tournament crown with a 25-22, 25-18 win over the Lancers.

While Lockerby looked solid in taking down the Lo-Ellen Park Knights in straight sets in the semi-finals, Lasalle were pushed to the limit by a very resilient Champlain Requins entry.

Built around a core of Caleb Lalonde, Mathieu Berthiaume, Logyn Bernard, Ryan Kainola and Johnathan Houle, the Requins topped the Lancers 25-18 in the first set of their SF battle before succumbing to the school that has emerged victorious in eight of the past nine city "A" finals, 19-25, 13-15.

As for Lockerby, the triumph in Val Caron follows up an earlier tournament title at CVDCS over the same Lasalle crew - though the Lancers were absent primary attacker Cale Bast in the last tournament and minus head coach Dale Beausoleil (at tournament with Cambrian) this time around.

Still, the defending champs feature a talented roster of setter James Welsh, Will Mackey, Ashton Eadie, Oak Runia, Ethan Lalonde and the like, a clear test for the up and coming Vikes.

"We've played them before so I was expecting a lot," admitted 17 year-old veteran but first year setter Sam George. A left-side hitter one year ago, the grade 12 student has tackled his new role fully aware of all that it entails.

"There's a lot of pressure - everything kind of falls on you," he stated. "You have to take on a lot."

That said, there are some appealing targets in terms of setting options with Lockerby as Zander Kasunich, James Bertrim, Liam Binks and Adam Salamenditsis all scored with some degree of regularity at Horizon, with Callum Baron away at a baseball prospects tournament on the weekend.

"Me and Zander have been good friends for a while," said George. "We know each other well so we work really well together, setting the middle. We were trying to move Zander around a lot, too. Two of their middles are 6'6" and he's only 6'2"."

"And when Lasalle was serving, they were all kind of screening on the one side," added George. "When they took that position, James on the left side was open. He was one on one, all the time."

Many of the local teams are back in action on Friday as Ecole Secondaire Champlain plays host to the Johnny Coconut Volleyball Tournament in honour of long-time coach and teacher Michel Leroux.

Regular season play wraps up by the end of the month with quarter-final action set for Monday, November 6th.