Men’s volleyball standout Kai Boyko had an impactful rookie year in the brown and gold last fall, and he continued his development as part of Team Canada’s U21 roster this summer.
The 6’5″ left side out of Oak Park was joined by “the prodigy,” 6’7″ Owen Weekes. The best volleyball prospect in the province graduated from Vincent Massey recently, and will suit up as a right side in the fall for the Herd.
Both athletes were difference-makers for the red and white, who earned silver at the NORCECA Championship in Mexico from June 11-16.
Boyko was appointed captain and played in every match, while Weekes was subbed in during the gold medal game and was one of the game’s best attackers.
The silver was Canada’s fifth overall at the tournament, also winning two golds and three bronze in past events.
“This past summer at U21 was my second time playing with [Weekes],” smiled Boyko.
“We won a gold medal the summer previous at the Canada Cup, and that was when I first became a friend of his. He’s a top athlete, definitely the best opposite coming out of his age class, and I think he can make an impact, I’m excited to see what the future holds for him.”
Breaking down the tournament
This wasn’t Boyko’s first rodeo with the national team.
At the start of his grade 12 year, he spent four months in Gatineau, Quebec as part of Canada’s National Excellence Program [NEP]. The program is designed to help top high school athletes prepare and develop for international events to come.
“It was pretty much a U19 group, and we did scrimmages and stuff against university teams, we just didn’t have any international competitions,” noted Boyko.
“We had the same coach, [Manitoba Bisons alum] Dan Lewis. He’s pretty intense, so I think it definitely helped me on that front. Also, just having the knowledge from NEP helped us with our training at U21. There wasn’t as much of a delay or learning curve.”
As a group of guys, Team Canada “valued the same things.” The team’s commitment to their nutrition and off-court prep mirror that on the court, which set the squad up for success when they departed for Mexico.
The Canadians swept Puerto Rico and Guatemala 3-0 in the group B preliminaries, and topped Cuba 3-1, earning a bye to the semi-finals, where they topped Puerto Rico again, this time 3-1.
The Puerto Ricans finished fourth in the tournament, and were a solid test.
Block defence was a major key for Canada in both matches. They had ten total in their first match against Puerto Rico, and 12 in the semi-finals.
Weekes contributed a block in the preliminary match as well as two points and a block in the semis, while Boyko had a huge showing in semis with nine points and a block.
“I think our first game was probably our worst game. It wasn’t so bad, but we just weren’t playing at our level. When you’re playing a team like Puerto Rico, they’re pretty good. They finished fourth in the tournament and we played them first. That team had already played in U19 last year, and it was probably a little closer than it needed to be,” reflected Boyko.
“It was a slower start, but the end of the second set, end of the third set, our block defence, which was probably our team’s best attribute, started to come together. Throughout that we kept building on the block defence and the offence came together and guys found their role on the court. Once we got to Cuba in the last game of our pool play, which was a big game for us to get a bye into the semi, we had a game plan and we executed it perfectly.”
Part of that game plan included tactical serving, where Boyko shone. He was also sensational in service reception, often setting the Canadians up well in transition with his back row passing.
“Some guys like myself, I’m not usually a float server, but Dan [Lewsi] wanted a float server so I was one of the guys who went down to a float serve. It was just about finding the roles to allow the guys to be the best that we could,” he said.
“Our tactics with our serving were usually to serve to position one. A lot of the teams we played were pretty left side heavy. That obviously made it harder for the setters to locate their ball to position four, when the ball is coming from behind them. With me and the guys that were float serving, if we’re scoring points and we’re winning a game, and we’re playing a team that we know we should beat, we’re not missing any serves.”
The gold medal game was a battle of North America, with the two teams playing similar styles on the attack.
“Playing against Puerto Rico and Guatemala and teams like that, they’re not necessarily as tall or as physical as us. You have to be a lot more disciplined on the block, you don’t have to be as high, you just have to be over,” said Boyko.
“With USA, they ran a lot of pipe and a lot of middle, which we hadn’t really seen with teams like Guatemala or Puerto Rico, because they’re trying to run separation offences to get one on ones on the outside, because they don’t really want our middles to be closing.”
The US got Canada’s middles biting, and would then spread their offence out to either pin. It was a sweep for the Americans, but it didn’t come easy, especially in the third, where the match went to extra points, 27-25.
Against the best, Weekes led all players with 13 points and a block, while Boyko offered stability on defence.
“That USA team played at U19 Worlds last year and came fourth. They’re a top competitor for this age group in the world, and it was beneficial being able to see where we lined up against them,” noted Boyko.
“The biggest thing for our team is going to be bringing that knowledge we acquired. If you want to be a good U SPORTS team, I think you have to train and play like you’re on the national team. The more guys we have with that collective mindset, we can use that to hold other guys accountable.”
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