The Saints Senior Boys Volleyball team competed in Melville on Nov. 17 for the 4A Regional Playoffs. Teams consisted of: Oxbow, Kipling and Kamsack in Pool A; and Melville Comprehensive, Sacred Heart and Esterhazy in Pool B. Three teams would advance to the Provincial Championship on November 23-24.
After round robin play Oxbow took 1st in Pool A, Kipling 2nd and Kamsack 3rd. In Pool B, Sacred Heart took 1st, Esterhazy 2nd and MCS placed 3rd. Only the top two teams from the round robin moved onto the playoffs.
In the 1st semi-final match, Oxbow defeated Esterhazy in two straight sets. In the 2nd semi-final match, Sacred Heart faced Kipling. Both teams fought extremely hard exchanging points throughout the sets. The match went to 3 sets and the Saints team prevailed winning 25-23, 22-25, and 25-17. This guaranteed the Saints to advance to provincials.
In the gold match the Saints faced Oxbow. Sacred Heart played back to back matches moving into the final. The Saints team ran out of gas and was overtaken by Oxbow in two sets 14-25 and 10-25. The third seat to provincials went to Esterhazy, who eliminated Kipling in the bronze match. Oxbow, Sacred Heart and Esterhazy now advance to the provincial tournament in Nipawin. The tournament will consist of ten teams with two pools of five. Last season Oxbow took gold at Provincials and the Saints took 4th.
"I am very proud of the team to advance to Provincials two years in a row," says coach Curtis Moen. "Key players at Regionals were Derek Marshall for passing, Colin Shewchuk's setting, Jaedon Pellatt's hitting and Brendon Walkington's blocking at the net. We have a strong group of grade 12's, but we have been very inconsistent this season as many of the players have missed tournaments for football or soccer. I now have the full squad focused on provincials and we look forward to fine tuning the team before leaving for Nipawin."
