聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 Just a week after hosting and winning its own tournament at Canora Composite School (CCS), the Canora Cougars senior girls volleyball team saw its season come to an abrupt and unexpected conclusion on the team鈥檚 home court.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The 3A Girls East Conference 2 Playoffs at CCS included a total of seven teams, which were split into two groups for the round robin portion of the tournament.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Canora was in a group with the Lanigan Lazers and the Wynyard Bears. The other group consisted of the Kelvington Golden Hawks, the Wadena Blue Devils, the Foam Lake Panthers and the Invermay Eagles. Each team played the others in the group once to determine qualifiers for the playoff round.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The Cougars lost both round robin matches in two straight sets, first to the Lazers and then to the Bears, and were eliminated from the playoffs, said Colin Knight, coach.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The top two teams from each group moved on to the playoff round, which included Lanigan, Wynyard, Foam Lake and Invermay.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 In the semifinals, Wynyard defeated Foam Lake and Invermay got past Lanigan. Wynyard outlasted Invermay in the final to take first place, while Foam Lake won the third place game over Lanigan.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 By finishing in the top three, Wynyard, Invermay and Foam Lake all moved on to the regional playoff tournament in Hudson Bay.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Knight said it was an entertaining tournament with a high calibre of play similar to that of provincial playoff action. He believes the three advancing teams have a good chance of continued success.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Even though the Cougars鈥� season ended sooner than the team would have liked, Knight said he was proud of the group.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淛anayah Merriam (captain), Abbey Sakal, Kaitlyn Landstad, and Emma Eiteneier played their last high school volleyball this weekend.聽 A lot of the younger players sat patiently on the bench, cheering on their seniors admirably.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Knight is looking forward to an even stronger team in 2018, as four of this year鈥檚 starters were in grades 10 or 11.
