Dave Leaderhouse
Special to the Herald
For the second straight week the Carlton Crusaders were bridesmaids at a senior girl’s volleyball tournament as they lost a heart-breaking three-set final to Yorkton at the St. Mary invitational event on Saturday.
The silver-medal finish came on the heels of another runner-up finish when the Crusaders fell to Lloydminster in the championship final of their own tournament one week earlier.
“Our team had a lot of fun this weekend and played exciting matches against Martensville in the semi-final and Yorkton in the final,” stated Carlton head coach Tori Glynn. “We learned a lot at this tournament and are looking forward to our next competition.”
Carlton finished second in their pool in the round-robin portion of the tournament to set up a quarter-final match-up against the host St. Mary Marauders. The Marauders, who also had a strong showing in preliminary play when they, too, were second in their pool, had their run for a title come to an end when the Crusaders won in straight sets.
“We hosted one of the most competitive tournaments in St. Mary recollection,” noted Marauders’ head coach Shaun Hunko. “Thirteen of the 15 participating teams were from the 5A girls’ category. Every match was a battle.”
Carlton would need all three sets to get past Martensville in the semi-finals to set up the meeting with Yorkton, who had upset two of the top three seeds in Lloydminster (#3) and Swift Current (#2) in their opening playoff match-ups.
Martensville, which entered the playoff round as the top seed after preliminary play, won the bronze medal for the second straight week when they swept Swift Current in their final match. Martensville also finished third at the Carlton tournament last week after they outlasted Warman in three sets to conclude that event.
St. Mary also had a pair of junior squads entered in the tournament, but they were both relegated to the consolation side of the event following round-robin action. Saskatoon Centennial would eventually win that bracket with a straight-set victory over Holy Cross from Saskatoon while Warman was third after sweeping past North Battleford Composite High School.
In senior boy’s action from the weekend, St. Mary claimed fifth place at the 16-team event held in Swift Current. The Marauders won two of three matches in pool play, but lost to the evenual champions from Estevan in the quarter-finals. Carlton also competed at the tournament, but results of their games were unavailable.
All four senior squads – both boys and girls teams from Carlton and St. Mary – will now have a week break before heading to Spruce Grove, Alta., over the Thanksgiving long weekend for a major invitational tournament. Next action in Prince Albert will be Oct. 16-17 when Carlton will host its senior boy’s event.
All of this tournament action is in advance of what is expected to be a highly contested regional playdown in all divisions with just two clubs from each group advancing to their respective provincial tournaments at the end of November.
