By Larry Moko
A switch at the setter position this season helped propel the ACMT Jaguars to the championship of senior boys' high school volleyball.
In Thursday's final, the second-place Jaguars travelled to Tonnos' gym and edged the first-place Titans 3-2 (25-21, 18-25, 25-22, 15-12).
It was the second-consecutive Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic title for the Jags.
Both teams, however, advance to Golden Horseshoe Athletic Conference semifinal playoffs. Bishop Tonnos will face the Bishop Reding Royals at the AAA level while ACMT takes on a Halton Single A opponent.
The positional strategy that proved successful for Jags coach Bernard Boulianne in 2025 saw veteran captain Cedrik Dass move to a power role from setter. Against club competition with the Kitchener-Waterloo Preds, Dass is considered one of the premier setters in Ontario.
"Cedrik is ranked No 2 in the province as a setter, but here he's playing as a power," Boulianne said. "Why the change? Because my second setter, Hayden Cornelsen, is really good, too. He was the Catholic junior MVP at the all-star game last year, so I knew we had a decent setter coming up.
"It gives us a more diverse attack. I have four or five guys that can attack and the rest of the league has only two or three. So it's an advantage for us."
Cornelsen's block capped the scoring as ACMT won for the third time in as many tries against BT this season.
"He (Dass) is definitely better than me at setting," Cornelsen said. "But we don't have that many options here at ACMT. We only have about 300 kids (280 enrolled from Grades 9-12)."
Neither Dass nor Cornelsen said they were bothered by rhythmic clapping and chants of 'he's a set-ter' from the Tonnos players on the sideline when BT scored.
"They were just saying it as a joke to get me going," Dass said. "It's because I'm a setter on my rep team. It's kind of friendly."
Tonnos coach Lisa Pauletto said Dass does "quite a good job" stepping up as a hitter. "He's a great player," she said.
Tonnos held a 12-10 lead in the fifth set.
"We were very close," Pauletto added. "That's the closest we've come to beating ACMT. It just slipped away there at the end ... too many errors."
Tonnos finished atop of the regular-season standings with a record of 11-3. The Titans then topped the Cathedral Gaels and St. Mary Crusaders in preliminary playoff rounds, seeking the first senior boys' volleyball championship in the school's 20-year history.
"I'm really proud of the boys ... all of them," Pauletto said. "We're successful when we can split the block with our middles running in and get a one-on-one outside. Overall, we're a hard-working team."
The Tonnos roster is comprised of Andrew Lock, Botand Antalka, Alessandro Pauletto, Ethan Muretic, Matthew Kolodziej, Keegan Green, Brandon Estime, Francesco Montecchia, Gavin Davis, Salman Alakoozi, Luka Pasalic, Isaac Davis and Michael Vanicas.
The next game for Tonnos is Monday, Nov. 10 in Milton against Reding.
The Jaguars eliminated the St. Thomas More Knights and the St. Jean de Brebeuf Braves in playoff action after ending up with a 10-4 mark during the regular schedule.
Coach Boulianne was pleased with his team's come-from-behind victory in the final and the achievement of winning back-to-back championships.
"The kids showed a lot of character," he said. "For our little school it's really a good thing. Volleyball is kind of a religion for us."
The Jags finished fifth at the OFSAA Single A tournament last year and Boulianne says the goal this year is to win a medal. Their next game is at home on Tuesday, Nov. 11.
Other ACMT players included Brody Condie, Declan Palladino, Yves Da-Juste Petion, Christian Boire, Logan Gauthier, Joshua Paiement, Ben Soules, Adamy Yacoub and Jordy Diceanu-Wibrin.
In Thursday's junior boys' volleyball final, the St. John Henry Newman Cardinals defeated the St. Thomas More Knights, 3-0. Set scores were (25-15, 26-24, 25-16).
More photos on the HWCDSB Athletics Facebook page
Photos by R.F. (Bob) Butrym, RFB Sport Photography
