The Caronport Cougars looked like they were in mid-season form on Thursday night as they rolled to a straight set win over the Central Cyclones in Moose Jaw High School Senior Girls Volleyball League action.

The two-time defending league champions won in three sets (25-16, 25-19, 25-14) and looked strong and in control throughout the contest.

“We talked about this week in practice about competing right through an entire match and challenged the girls to be athletes out there today and we saw that,” said Caronport head coach Derek Zacharias.

“Whether it was the first set or third set, they were going after balls, they were hitting the floor and we saw some power and creativity on offence, so it was good to see.”

The Cougars have a lot of talent on this year’s team, but Zacharias said it isn’t hard to keep the team focused on the task at hand.

“They’re a pretty focused group, it’s just keeping them on the fact that we’re trying to get better, there’s a lot of skill and they can kind of sit back, but we just want to have a growth mindset and focus on getting better all the time,” he said.

Despite the lopsided final score in the end, the Cyclones gave Caronport a good fight in the game, making some good defensive plays against the Cougars attack and continuing to play hard right until the end of the third set.

“I thought in a lot of cases, we played point-for-point with them,” said Central coach Joe Gunnis. “There’s a few little things that we need to continue to work on, but I was happy that we went out there and gave it the effort that we did and I saw a lot of real good things out of our team.”

Gunnis said he was really happy with their play on the defensive side of the ball during the game.

“There’s a few positional things to clean up, but I thought we attacked the ball well and we passed well, so that’s a real big positive for us, so I’m really happy with where we’re at in the season,” he said.

The Cyclones are back on the court on Tuesday night when they host the Cornerstone Falcons. The Cougars are off from league play until Oct. 3 when they head to Cornerstone.

In other action on Thursday night, the Central boys won in three straight sets (25-16, 25-23, 25-20) over the Avonlea Eagles.

Over at Peacock, the Toiler boys won in four sets (25-23, 16-25, 25-20, 25-21) over the Cornerstone Falcons, while the Peacock girls beat Cornerstone in three sets (25-14, 25-7, 25-21).