The boy’s and girl’s senior Jaguars played a hard-fought tournament over the weekend, earning themselves a second and third place.
The girls played three games in round-robin against Clyde, Athabasca and Legal. The final team the girls played in the round was Legal, close games that the girls won in three sets. This put the Jags into first place in pool A.
After round-robin, pool B had a three-way tie for first place between Jarvie, Mayerthorpe and R.F. Staples. Using AVA tie-breaking procedures, Mayerthorpe ended up first in Pool B, Staples finished second, Jarvie finished third and Neerlandia finished fourth.
The girls’ first playoff game put them up against Neerlandia. The players proved their skills beating Neerlandia in three sets, the final set 15-13.
“It was a very exciting match,” said Livington.
The Jags then played Jarvie in the semi finals and won that game as well, putting them through to the finals against Mayerthorpe.
The match was a close one and the girls played well. Unfortunately Barrhead was bested, losing the first match 25-22 and the second 25-23. The girls lost out on gold, but can still hold their heads high with silver medals.
“Overall, we had a very successful tournament. The girls played well and they should be proud of the way they finished in the tournament,” said Livington. “We still have lots to work on and we will be practicing to prepare for the “Canadian Classic” tournament in Spruce Grove this weekend.”
The boys powered through their games on a winning streak that lasted up until the semi final round. They performed with great strength through each of their games, defeating Clyde, Athabasca, and Legal early on.
Entering into the quarterfinals brought another victory against Mayerthorpe, winning their games 25-20 and 25-21. Unfortunately this would be the end of the road towards a gold finish.
The Jags met R.F Staples in the semi finals and came up short, losing 19-25 and 26-28. However, the challenge wasn’t over yet. Their skills shone through once again in the bronze medal game against Athabasca, where they powered through to take a well deserved win 25-8 and 25-13.
Going into the tournament, head coach Greg Ferguson said he felt confident the team would have good results. The boys played strongly in other tournaments, placing silver in Namao, but went into some tough final games short handed this weekend.
“Unfortunately we had a bit of a conflict with the minor hockey schedule and some of my players were unable to finish off the tournament,” said Ferguson. “Despite this, the remaining players rallied to play a great Bronze medal match.”
They may not be basking in golden glory this time, but Ferguson said the result was a positive one.
“Although we lost in the semi finals to Westlock, the eventual winners of the tournament, the students played an exceptional tournament only losing once,” he said.
The players plan to continue working on little things to strengthen themselves as a team during their next practices, though skill wise Ferguson said they are very talented.
“We continue to make little mental mistakes in pressure game situations,” he said. “We will try to emulate these game situations in practice this week.”
The boys are off to the Great Canadian Classic in Spruce Grove this coming weekend, which should prove to be a challenge. With 24 other teams participating, it’s by far the largest and most competitive tournament the Jags attend.
