R.F. Staples School’s senior volleyball teams collected bronze at the North Central 3A Zone championships Nov. 16-17 in Barrhead.
And with only the top-two teams advancing to this coming weekend’s provincial championships, the season is now over.
“It’s a little disappointing,” said boys head coach Kyle Beattie. “We were hoping to be in the final. I think we’re one of the top five or six teams in Alberta, but we won’t get a chance to prove it at provincials.”
For the boys, the deciding moment came in the third set of the last game of their round robin against Barrhead, which ended in an 20-18 decision for the Gryphons, forcing R.F. to face Morinville in the semifinals.
Morinville went on to defeat the T-Birds and ultimately claim the zone banner.
T-Bird Carston Bergeron spikes the ball in a contest versus Whitecourt.
That put R.F. Staples in the bronze-medal match against Parkland, whom they beat soundly in two sets.
With the season wrapped up, Beattie said many of the boys will be playing club volleyball, which he noted starts as early as next week.
He added that five of his team are graduating and wanted to wish them well.
“I’ve coach those boys for five or six years now and it’s been a lot of fun. They’re good kids, I’m really proud of how they’ve progressed,” he said. “We’ll be a little bit younger next year, but I’m sure we’ll be very competitive.”
Girls top Hilltop for bronze
It was a similar story for the girls, who dominated the round robin but were defeated by Barrhead in the semifinals.
In their bronze medal match up, the girls flew past Hilltop High School in two sets — 25-15 and 25-8.
“We had some really exciting games of good volleyball,” said girls head coach Denise Boulerice. “The girls can be really proud of how they ended the season.”
Noting the T-Birds are a young team, Boulerice said she was very happy with their growth.
With three players graduating, she is expecting to have a solid core of veterans to help lead the team. In the interim, she said a lot of the girls were planning to hone their skills in club volleyball this winter.
