BARRHEAD-Barrhead Composite High School (BCHS) Senior Gryphons boys and girls volleyball teams punched their tickets to the provincial championships this weekend in Westlock by winning the 3A North Central Zone tournament beating Morinville Community High School in the finals.
In the bronze medal match, on the girl's side, Whitecourt's Hill Top High School defeated Westlock's R.F. Staples, while on the boy's side, it was Westlock that took the bronze defeating Drayton Valley's Frank Maddox High School.
The two teams took the two-day (Nov. 19-20) championship tournament, going a perfect 4-0 in the round-robin before defeating
The boys defeated Morinville in two straight sets, 25-11 and 25-18, respectively, while the girls won in three sets.
To get to the gold medal game, both teams went undefeated in the round-robin of the two-day (Nov. 19-20) tournament, going 4-0 to win their prospective pools and getting an automatic bye into the semi-finals.
In the semi-finals, the boys defeated Drayton Valley, while the girls beat Westlock's R.F. Staples. Both games were decided in two sets.
Boys coach Rod Callihoo said he was happy with the team's performance.
"We played well," he said, adding as a group, they have defined who they are and know what they need to do to be on their game. "We get good first contact all the time, and positions one and five come and cover the tips and free balls very well. We are also starting to block and are very offensive, but we still have to work at it."
Girl coach Kyle Becker was also pleased with how well his players performed over the weekend.
"We were very consistent for the entire tournament," he said, adding he wasn't surprised how competitive the final match against Morinville was.
"We have faced them four times this season, and they have pushed us every time," he said. "We missed a few serves in the second set, but we were able to battle back and take the third set."
This is the second straight year that both Senior Gryphon teams have advanced to the provincial championships.
In 2019, the boys earned silver in a tightly contested match against that went three sets. Two current Senior Boy Gryphons players were on that team.
And although the girls' team played well at times, regrettably they did not win a game.
In 2020, due to the pandemic, the provincial championships were not held.
