The St. Mary Marauders Senior Boys Volleyball team has advanced to the SHSAA 5A Boys Provincials, which the school will be hosting next Friday and Saturday.
The Marauders advanced as a two seed after losing 25-15, 25-15 to the Lloydminster Barons on Saturday afternoon in the 5A Regional Final which took place at Carlton Comprehensive High School.
Marauders coach Rene Quintal said the team accomplished one of their goals by advancing as a second seed.
“I think our goal going into the tournament was to make the final over a three-day period. We knew going into the final we’d have to be in the final, and we’d have the Lloydminster Comprehensive or Carlton. We were able to beat them (Carlon) in a tough three-set match prior to the final,” Quintal said.
In the semi-final, St. Mary defeated Carlton 25-23, 21-25, 15-8 in the match prior on Saturday afternoon.
“Our goal was to qualify for provincials in either the North 1 or North 2 seeds, which we were able to accomplish one of our goals,” he added.
Quintal said that even though they had a spot because they were hosts, the Marauders wanted to earn their way.
“We had a host berth, but we wanted to earn our spot, and we wanted to make sure that we earned our spot, so the whole weekend was to earn our spot, and we did, so that’s that was one mission accomplished,” Quintal said.
Quintal said after the emotional win over their crosstown rival, the team could not recover.
“We never really matched their team’s serving or passing or spiking. They were just definitely motivated to play, and I think our guys were really excited about the Carlton game and maybe had a little bit of a letdown, and we weren’t able to recover in enough period of time, but that’s high school volleyball,” he explained.
“We are going to have to learn how to recover quickly after matches, emotional matches.”
The team is composed of seven Grade 10 players, so Quintal has great hope for future growth of the team.
“But first to qualify there on their own speaks to how much the level these kids are playing before we can get to the next two or three years with this group,” he said.
In round robin play the Marauders placed second in their pool with a record of 1-1. They opened the tournament with a 25-6, 25-16 win over Martensville on Friday night. In their second game Friday, the Marauders lost 21-25, 25-18, and 15-7 to the eventual champion Barons.
The team is looking for some redemption after failing to qualify for last year’s provincials.
”It was very disappointing for last year not to qualify for the provincials after winning the Provincial Championship in 2023, but I think the team that knocked us out of provincials last year was Carlton. We were able to exact a little bit of revenge for last year’s Grade 12s,” he said.
The Crusaders also advanced to provincials after winning the third-place game 25-18, 25-12 over the Warman Wolverines on Saturday afternoon. A third-place game was necessary because the host Marauders advanced to provincials.
Carlton placed first in their pool with a record of 2-0. The Crusaders opened with a 25-14, 25-12 win over the North Battleford Vikings on Friday afternoon. In their second game the Crusaders defeated the Warman Wolverines 25-22, 25-14.
The schedule for 5A Provincials at St. Mary was released on Monday. Games will be played at both St. Mary Gym and the Saskatchewan Polytechnic Gym. The Marauders open at noon on Friday, Nov. 14, against the Saskatoon Aden Bowman Bears at St. Mary Gym. The Marauders’ second game is against Regina LeBoldus at 3:15 at St. Mary Gym on Friday. They close Friday against Estevan at 6:15 p.m. at St. Mary Gym.
St. Mary concludes the round robin on Saturday at 11:15 a.m. against Saskatoon Walter Murray.
The Crusaders open play on Friday against Lloydminster at Saskatchewan Polytechnic at 1 p.m. Carlton’s second game is at Saskatchewan Polytechnic against Regina Miller at 3:15 p.m. The Crusaders conclude play on Friday against Swift Current at Saskatchewan Polytechnic at 6:30 p.m. In their final round robin game, the Crusaders play Saskatoon Holy Cross at St. Mary Gym on Saturday at 9 a.m.
Playoffs begin Saturday at 12:45 p.m. at St. Mary Gym, with the finals scheduled for 5:45 at St. Mary Gym.
