聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 The Canora Composite School (CCS) has two junior girls volleyball teams for the coming season, both of which competed in a tournament hosted by CCS on September 29 and 30.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 A total of 10 teams played in the tournament. Other than Canora, the teams were from Melville, Keesekoose, Yorkton, Churchbridge, Invermay, Sturgis, Kamsack and Preeceville.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The teams were divided into two groups of five for round robin play, with each team playing the other four teams in its group once. The teams with the top two records in each group made the playoffs.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Alexandria Blatter, coach, said the Canora girls were split into a red team and a black team for the season, which started with the CCS tournament.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淎 total of 22 girls tried out for junior girls volleyball, and I didn鈥檛 want them to have the negative experience of being cut so early in their volleyball careers, so the answer was to have two teams.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Out of the 22 players, 15 are in their first year of junior girls volleyball, said Blatter.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Neither Canora team made the playoffs in the Canora tournament, but they won a combined total of three out of eight matches, including a victory over Yorkton, the team which finished second in the tournament. The majority of the losses were by five points or less.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Blatter said she saw tremendous growth in the teams from the beginning of the tournament to the end, and will strive to help the players continue to build their confidence and their volleyball skills throughout the season. 聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Blatter was thankful for the assistance of Allyson Grywacheski, who helped out by splitting the coaching duties.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 In the CCS tournament, the teams from Yorkton, Churchbridge, Preeceville and Invermay made the playoffs. Yorkton and Preeceville advanced to the final match, where Preeceville pulled out a tight-two-games-to-one victory to cap off a perfect tournament with a record of six wins and no losses.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Churchbridge defeated Invermay to take third place.
