R.F. Staples School’s junior varsity boys volleyball team can hold their heads high after a silver medal performance to finish their season at their zone tournament hosted at the school last weekend.
Eight girls teams and four boys teams took to the courts at R.F. Staples Nov. 2-3 to determine the best junior varsity teams in the zone.
The boys finished second in their pool after winning games against Frank Maddock High School from Drayton Valley 25-20 and 25-16 and Barrhead Composite 21-25, 25-22 and 15-5, but losing to Morinville 21-25 and 23-25.
The T-Birds then rolled over Frank Maddock in the semifinal before facing off with Morinville once again and taking the silver medal.
“We ended up losing in the final to Morinville. It was a good match. Taking nothing away from them, they played really, really well. They served well and it was a really good match. They served excellent, putting the pressure on us all the time, sometimes scoring three of four points in a row,” said coach Dean Fagnan of the Morinville team.
“They’re a good enough team that when we gave them free balls, they attacked.”
That puts a wrap on the junior varsity season for the year.
“We had a really good group of players and I really enjoyed coaching them, gold would have been nice, but I’m happy with that finish.”
“There’s nothing to hang our heads about.”
The JV girls didn’t fare quite as well as the boys, but still showed a lot of improvement throughout the year and ended up in a good place, said assistant coach Jessica Carlyon.
The girls finished third in their pool after the round robin portion of the tournament defeating Parkland Composite 25-22 and 25-11, but dropping matches 13-25 and 21-25 to Onoway and 8-25 and 16-25 to Morinville.
The T-Birds then took on Barrhead Composite in the quarterfinals, but fell in two sets.
“We had a close run in the second set and almost took it to three, but ended up losing out.”
The girls have come a long way since the beginning of the season.
“The basic skills are there now and they should be able to put some pressure on the other team.”
The team will be holding a season wrap-up with a trip to Edmonton to watch the U of A Pandas take the court. There will also be a pizza party.
