Volleyball zones action took place across several area communities, including St. Paul, on Nov. 19 and 20 with local teams putting in good showings and at least two local teams next heading off to provincials in Taber.
École Mallaig School and Glendon School senior high boys’ volleyball teams will both head to provincials, to be held Nov. 25 to 27, after placing first and second respectively in 1A zones in Andrew over the weekend.
Glendon School coach Daryn Galatiuk said he felt as though it was a “fantastic” opportunity for the team, with this being the team’s second year in a row and its third time in the last five years to go to provincials. While Mallaig’s success in volleyball has been cemented for awhile, Glendon tends to get thought of as being strong in basketball, but Galatiuk said, “We’ve been doing pretty good with the volleyball.” He was proud of the boys and thinks the strong team should have a good showing. Two Hills’ boys team would round out the top three out of eight teams for senior high 1A volleyball.
Senior high girls traveled to Paradise Valley to take part in zones, where the Mallaig and Glendon teams played hard and also put in solid performances, coming in a three-way tie for first in their pool. However, after the tiebreak and playoffs, Smoky Lake and École Beauséjour from Plamondon would take first and second place, with Paradise Valley rounding out the top three. Mallaig would settle for fourth, with Glendon’s girls in either fifth or sixth place, said Galatiuk.
In 3A zones held at St. Paul Regional High and Ecole Racette Junior High school, St. Paul Regional High Saints’ girls and boys’ volleyball teams received bronze medals.
In the semi-finals, the Saints lost in three sets against Holy Rosary out of Lloydminster. But the team would follow up with a win against Bonnyville Centralized High School in sets of 25 - 18, 22 – 25 and 15 – 11 to capture the bronze.
“To be honest, we hoped to be in the finals with Cold Lake, but it didn’t turn out for us,” said Hank Smid, coach for the Saints’ girls volleyball team.
Cold Lake High School would take gold by winning two sets against Holy Rosary.
On the boys side, the Saints would lose to the Lac La Biche Jaws in a semi-final match, meaning it then played Cold Lake High School in the bronze medal match-up. The Saints boys won bronze in two sets, with a score of 25 – 15 and 25 – 20.
In the gold medal match-up, Bonnyville Centralized High School came ahead in their match against the Lac La Biche Jaws.
Jill Ranger, a fifth year coach for the Saints’ boys team, commented that her team had a very strong start in the competition, and that the Saints were the team to beat. “With that comes some pressure,” said Ranger, adding, “And we played well but we’re disappointed with not advancing to the provincials.”
However, Ranger commented that it was nice to play in the Saints’ home gym and to host the competition over the weekend. “I think the love of volleyball is in St. Paul and I hope that our program is built from hosting competitions like these.”
