R.F. Staples School’s senior volleyball teams topped off their first home tournament in several years with a gold medal for the boys and a silver for the girls.
Thirteen teams came out to compete at the R.F. Staples senior volleyball invitational Oct. 27-28.
Senior boys coach Kyle Beattie said that because it was the first time in a while since R.F. hosted a tournament, they didn’t get the premiere teams to come.
“Most were from small schools and less established volleyball programs,” he said. “Our boys were far more advanced than our competition this weekend.”
The boys won handily in the final against Fort Saskatchewan’s St. John Paul II 25-11, 25-17, and placed first in their pool.
“They played well all weekend but weren’t really challenged in any match,” Beattie continued. “It was good for their confidence and allowed us to try out a few new things.”
The senior girls finished with silver, losing out in the third match of the finals to Frank Maddock High School out of Drayton Valley.
“The girls played hard and played their hearts outs,” said senior girls coach Jay MacIntyre. “They had their best weekend up to date, we just ran out of gas. I’m very happy.”
Frank Maddock edged a win in the first match 25-23. R.F. came back with a 25-21 win but Frank Maddock took the medal in the third match with a 15-10 finish.
“It was back and forth, back and forth,” MacIntyre said. “We just ran out of gas.”
The girls finished second in their pool, defeating Thorsby, Thorhild and Grand Trunk. With that in mind, MacIntyre said the competition was a little weaker than what they’ve been playing against.
“There’s not as many 3(A) or 4A schools, which we’ve been playing in tournaments all year,” he said, but added that this tournament helped improved the team’s confidence. “That helps us get better and there were also two teams from our zone that we will be playing in zones.”
The teams will now take a three-week break before starting up again for zones Nov. 17-18. The boys will be travelling to Morinville while the girls will be hosting zones at R.F., and MacIntyre hoped their injured player would be healthy enough to play.
“They’ve been working hard and getting better, they just needed to gain confidence and start to believe in themselves for them to turn it around,” he said. “They’re getting that confidence so we’re starting to get results.”
