The Portage Collegiate Trojans junior varsity team began to find itself a little too late.

Playing the top-ranked team in the West Winnipeg Athletic Conference and the No. 5 team in the province in the St. Paul's Crusaders, the Trojans were without their game early on, only to discover it in the final set.

The Trojans (2-4) fell 3-0 (25-9, 25-12 and 25-19) to a strong Crusader club.

Head coach Dawn Moxham said the players weren't moving their feet early on and it cost them.

"The start today, we were just flat," said Moxham. "We have trouble with these away games. We don't start out in the zone ready to play when we go on the road."

Moxham said the Trojans were starting to put the pieces together in the final set, so there were some positives that could be garnered from the effort.

"In the third set, the boys started to settle in," said Moxham. "Kenton Kroeker had some big digs in the back row and that really set us up. The blockers were starting to adjust.

"We still fell short."

However, in too many cases, the pieces were working, but not working in unison.

"They'd have some big blocks. The blockers would get a piece of it, but we didn't have anybody in the back row picking up the ball as it was going over their hands," said Moxham. "The back row was having trouble tonight."

Moxham was glad for the Trojans to see the Crusaders at this point in the season to give them an idea of where they need to be.

"It sure was good for our boys to see such a high-powered offence," said Moxham. "This is the best team we've played so far.

"We were beginning to adjust, but we need more games like that, more quality games to make them realize what they have to do to win.

"They were running some quick plays in the middle. They had some back-row attackers. They're the same age, so we can play with them. We saw that at times, but then we'd spot them some points at that would take the score away."

The Trojans will next play Tuesday night when the Vincent Massey Trojans visit PCI at 5 p.m.

dan.falloon@sunmedia.ca

Twitter: PDGdfalloon