Kevin Berger – Leader Staff
The Onoway girls and Morinville boys were the big winners at the Barrhead Gryphons Senior Jaguars’ Invitational on Saturday, although the Neerlandia Public Christian School (NPCS) Eagles girls and boys were able to net silver and bronze medals.
A total of 16 boys and girls’ teams were in attendance at the one-day tournament, which was hosted at Barrhead Composite High School (BCHS).
As noted, the NPCS girls had the best showing of all the local teams. Initially, they finished second in their pool, losing to Onoway (23-25, 25-20, 12-15) but defeating Muir Lake (25-11, 25-15) and Clyde (25-22, 27-26).
The Neerlandia team’s first opponent in the playoffs were the BCHS Gryphons, who had finished third in their pool.
The BCHS girls had lost to Edwin Parr Composite High School from Athabasca (13-25, 25-21, 7-15) and Blueberry School from Stony Plain (25-16, 14-25, 3-15), but had defeated R.F. Staples (25-20, 25-13).
During the match between Barrhead and Neerlandia, the Gryphons managed to gain a small lead in both sets but Neerlandia ended up coming back and scoring a win.
Barrhead went on to defeat Edwin Parr Composite High School from Athabasca in the second round of playoffs, which put them into the final against Onoway.
While the two teams were incredibly close in ability, Onoway ended up defeating Neerlandia in two sets (25-21, 25-22).
Meanwhile, the NPCS boys ended up defeating the BCHS Senior Jags in the bronze medal match within three sets (18-25, 25-14 and 15-12).
Neerlandia initially finished second in their pool, defeating Onoway (25-19, 25-18) and Muir Lake (25-20, 27-25) but falling to Morinville (20-25, 22-25).
Neerlandia downed Blueberry in the first round of playoffs, but then they fell to Edwin Parr in the second round of playoffs. That put them into the bronze medal match against the BCHS boys.
The Barrhead Gryphons had finished second in their pool after losing to Edwin Parr (15-25, 25-23, 15-17) and defeating R.F. Staples (25-18, 14-25, 15-10) and Blueberry (25-18, 25-21).
BCHS defeated Muir Lake in the first round of playoffs but were then faced Morinville in the semi-final. Sadly, Morinville beat out Barrhead in three sets, although it was incredibly close.
In the boys’ championship final, Morinville ended up defeating Edwin Parr in two sets.
