It was a tale of two last calls for Ian Cayen and Mackenzie Schwartz.

The pair of athletes from DIamond Jenness Secondary School were playing in their respective finals at Senior Spike It! in Yellowknife on Sunday. One would go out victorious, while the other would sadly miss out.

Cayen captained the U19 boys squad to victory over St. Pat's in the Tier 2 final and they did it in three straight sets in the best-of-five contest.

It was the first banner for Cayen in his secondary scholastic volleyball career and he said it was a great way to go out.

"I've never won before and the last couple of years, (the boys) never won anything," he said. "It was nice to finally get one."

The Panthers didn't exactly make it easy on themselves as they had to come back twice in sets to win, added Cayen.

"We were down five in one set and won it, then we were down seven in another and we won that, too," he said. "Our coach (Mike Craig) told us to not let it get into our heads and stay calm. I didn't think we would come back like that, but our coach settled us down."

On the other end of the coin, there were the U19 Panthers girls, who took on Sir John Franklin in the Tier 1 final and dropped it in straight sets, but not without a fight in the third set as they went shot-for-shot with the Falcons.

Schwartz, who captained the girls team, said it was a tough battle and that the third set was a tough one to drop.

"We just weren't able to make it," she said.

It's often said the most dangerous team to play in a volleyball match is a team down 2-0 in sets because they have nothing to lose at that point and Schwartz said desperation played a part in the team's third-set performance.

"We definitely improved throughout the three sets we played," she said. "That third set, we really wanted to keep playing because it's our last game for the seniors and we really wanted to get that banner, but we just weren't able to."

For both Cayen and Schwartz, it was the final game of high school volleyball and both were emotional following the end of it all.

Cayen said he's going to miss the camaraderie of the bus rides.

"Winning the banner meant a lot and there's a lot of fond memories with the guys," he said. "The road trips were a lot of fun and I'm definitely going to miss those."

For Schwartz, she's going to miss the whole school sports atmosphere.

"School sports has been a huge part of middle and high school for me," she said. "It's going to be a big thing that I'm losing."