Kevin Berger – Leader Staff
The Barrhead Junior Gryphons girls’ volleyball team hit their stride this weekend exactly when they needed it most — during the North Central Zone Championship.
The Barrhead girls emerged as the ultimate victors from the 11-team tournament, which was hosted on Friday and Saturday at Barrhead Composite High School (BCHS).
Head coach Sierra Schmidt said the Junior Gryphons had failed to win a tournament all season, only managing to come close once: during the Joe Nestorovich Memorial Tournament at St. Mary School in Westlock on Oct. 25-26, where they finished second.
“Throughout the season we progressed so much, and obviously, all of our hard work showed up for our zone tournament,” said Schmidt.
“It’s pretty exciting. They worked pretty hard for it. They’re very deserving.”
Initially, it didn’t seem like the Gryphons were going to be successful this weekend based on how they started out.
After the round robin, the Barrhead girls finished in third place behind Onoway Junior/Senior High School and Morinville Central High School (MCHS), both of whom defeated the Gryphons in three sets.
Their other opponents during the round robin were Frank Maddock High School from Drayton Valley, who they defeated in two sets (25-13, 25-9); Holy Redeemer High School from Edson, who they beat in two sets (25-10, 25-17); and Thorsby, who they defeated in two sets (25-21, 25-20).
In the first round of playoffs, the BCHS girls defeated Parkland, who had finished second in their pool. That pitted them against Onoway in the semi-final.
The first set of their match with Onoway ended in a 20-25 loss, but then the Gryphons charged back and defeated Onoway in two straight sets (25-23, 15-11).
Now the girls were thrown into a championship final against the MCHS Wolves, a team that the Gryphons had failed to beat in three different match-ups throughout the year, according to Schmidt.
But this was Barrhead’s lucky weekend, as they quickly downed Morinville in two straight sets of 25-19 and 25-23.
Boys finish with bronze
The Barrhead Gryphons junior boys’ volleyball team also hosted the North Central Zone Championship on Saturday, which drew three additional teams: R.F. Staples from Westlock, Morinville Central High School and Jasper.
The Barrhead boys got off to a solid start in round robin action, defeating Morinville in two sets (25-17, 25-12), R.F. Staples in two sets (25-23, 25-16) and Jasper in two sets (25-13, 25-15).
That put them into the semi-final against Morinville, who had finished fourth. Whatever held Morinville back in the round robin ceased being a factor, however, as Barrhead fell in three sets to the visiting Wolves (24-26, 25-14, 9-15).
R.F. Staples crushed Jasper in the other semi-final, so they and Morinville advanced to the championship final. The Thunderbirds ended up defeating the Wolves in two straight sets to claim the championship.
Meanwhile, Barrhead claimed the bronze medal after defeating Jasper in two straight sets, both of which ended in scores of 25-18.
