Portage Collegiate Institute's varsity volleyball teams open their West Winnipeg Athletic Conference seasons tonight in Winnipeg.

The Trojans are in Winnipeg to face the St. James Jimmies.

The Trojans took the WWAC Tier 2 Championship last year, and Head Coach Trevor Shackleton's feeling confident heading into their opening match.

"I think pretty optimistic. We've got a great group of guys, all vets, we have a couple new guys too but they're Grade 12's. So we're very optimistic."

Trojans' Captain Bryce Rose making at pass at practice

Tier 2 has been eliminated this year which makes the WWAC a lot larger, but the Trojans won't be gaining any extra games despite the jump in numbers. "It'll be about the same number of games," says Shackleton. "Last year we played each other 3 times. So we get the same number of games, we just get different participants all the time."

Trojans' Grade 12 Captain Bryce Rose feels with their skill-set they've got a chance to be successful.

"We have a couple of tall guys -- we can block and we can hit -- and we've got some good passers, and our setters are really good. So I think that will help us out in all the games."

The Trojans and Jimmies go at 6 p.m.

 

Casper going over some strategy at the end of Saints' practice.

The Saints are also in Winnipeg to kick off their West Winnipeg Athletic Conference season against the Jimmies. The Saints were eliminated in the semi-final last season, and look to make another strong showing this year.

The Saints got some action in over the weekend at a tournament to help shake off the rust. "We didn't play so well," Saints' Head Coach Derek Casper explained. "We were more focused on making sure everybody got court time, and obviously we were getting a-little-bit of cobwebs out."

Casper feels after a couple practices this week they're in a lot better position to win than they were a week ago.

"We were focused a lot on defense, and I think that kind of hurt us this past weekend. So I think I covered what I needed to cover so that we can be successful."

The Saints hit the court at 7:30.