“Impose your will,” has been the mantra that the BCHS Junior Girls Gryphons volleyball team has lived by throughout the course of the season and that is exactly what they did at the North Central Zone Volleyball Championships held at Morinville Commu
“Impose your will,” has been the mantra that the BCHS Junior Girls Gryphons volleyball team has lived by throughout the course of the season and that is exactly what they did at the North Central Zone Volleyball Championships held at Morinville Community High School on Saturday, November 3.
Battling injury, illness and the jitters the girls wore down all their opponents, running the table, without losing a single set through round robin, semi final and final play. The gold medal match saw BCHS pitted against their long time rival Westlock Thunderbirds with the outcome being a hard fought straight set 25-21 and 25-19 victory.
The Junior Gryphon boys started the day off playing Parkland Composite high school in the round robin part of the tournament.
“Our passing wasn’t very strong and we missed more serves than I would have liked so we struggled a little bit but still pulled off a victory”. The Gryphons were able to win the best of three (25-22, 23-25, 15-13).
The team had the same problems against RF Staples from Westlock but again won a close match (23-25, 25-23, 18-16). Their passing and serving improved against Harry Collinge Rockies from Hinton and were able to beat them in two straight sets (25-21), 25-16).
Finishing first in the pool play earned the Gryphons a bye straight to the finals. In the finals the Gryphons played the Parkland Pacers again.
“We came out strong at the start with powerful serving and excellent passing. Our offence really improved as the day went along. A couple of strong serving runs put us ahead early in the game and strong hitting kept their defense on their heels allowing us to control the pace and momentum of the game. Our play peaked at exactly the right time of the day,” said Coach Steven Montgomery.
The JV Boys Gryphons would also like to thank Brandin Mast and Craig Connolly for helping out with coaching through the season.
This marks the third and fourth year consecutively that the junior girls and boys respectively have won the North Central Zone Championships. Once again a newly harvested crop of signed banners will soon be hoisted onto the walls of the BCHS main gym as an indication that the future of high school volleyball in Barrhead at the senior level will be in good hands.
Congratulations and thanks to all the players, coaches and parents that contributed to such an outstanding season.
