R.F. Staples and Barrhead Composite High School split the top spots at the Junior High Divisional Championships, which were hosted last Wednesday at the Rotary Spirit Centre.
In addition to those two schools, the tournament was attended by St. Mary School, Jarvie School, W.R. Frose School from Fawcett and Neerlandia Christian. Swan Hills was also slated to attend but were forced to cancel due to the poor weather.
On the boys’ side, the R.F. Staples volleyball team virtually swept the entire tournament. The T-Birds finished first in their pool with victories over Jarvie in three sets and Barrhead in two sets.
They then went on to beat Neerlandia in the semi-final, downing them in two sets, before facing off against the St. Mary School Sharks in the final.
The Sharks also had a good run at the tournament, defeating Clyde in two sets (25-20, 25-16), Fawcett in two sets (25-3, 25-10) and Neerlandia (25-20, 25-14). They also beat Barrhead in two sets.
Unfortunately for them, St. Mary’s luck ended against R.F. Staples, as the T-Birds defeated the Sharks in two close sets of 25-22 and 25-21.
Throughout the entire tournament, the only loss suffered by the R.F. Staples boys was their very first set against Jarvie.
“We started a little slow, but finished pretty good,” said R.F. boys coach Dean Fagnan.
“That’s what we’ve done all year: in the Barrhead tournament, we lost to Neerlandia to start the tournament and then beat them in the final. In Leduc, we lost to a team from Wetaskiwin in our first match and beat them in the final.”
On the girls side, Barrhead Composite defeated R.F. Staples in the final to win gold.
The Barrhead Jaguars finished first in their pool with victories over R.F. Staples (11-25, 25-22, 15-8) and Jarvie (25-18, 25-23). R.F. Staples was second by beating Jarvie in two sets of 25-21.
The Barrhead girls faced St. Mary in the semi-final, which had finished first in their pool with three victories over Clyde, Neerlandia and Fawcett. The Sharks lost that match.
Meanwhile, R.F. Staples went up against Neerlandia, who were 2-1 in their pool. They defeated Neerlandia in two sets. During the final, Barrhead finally dealt a mortal blow to R.F. Staples and won.
Fagnan noted that junior high teams do not advance beyond divisionals, so this tournament ended their season.
