The St. Mary Marauders senior A boys are off to volleyball provincials in Saskatoon, after putting in a first place finish at regionals in Lloydminster over the weekend.
For the Marauders, they had two close matches in their opening pair of games, winning in three sets over Warman (25-21, 23-25, 15-8), and two sets against Lloydminster (25-22, 25-23). They also beat North Battleford in their third match (25-12, 25-12), before taking down the Crusaders in their final game of the tournament (25-16, 25-21).
St. Mary finished first in round robin play, going a perfect 4-0, locking in a spot in the provincial tournament. Coach Rene Quintal was satisfied with how his team played over the weekend, coming out on top against some tough competition.
“I thought we played at a pretty high level against Lloydminster in our second game, which pretty much guaranteed our berth in provincials,” Quintal said. “We did a good job following our game plan.”
The intensity ramped up over the weekend as the race to decide who moves on and who goes home stayed close. Quintal said his group did a good job of staying the course and playing their game.
“Overall we improved as the day went on,” he said. “I thought it took us a while to get into a flow offensively in our first game against Warman. We made a few too many unforced errors, but as the day progressed we were able to score more points on offence on a regular basis. I think that’s the reason we were able to go 4-0.”
Although the Marauders finished first in their pool, Quintal still knows that they will have to step up their game to have a shot at bringing home provincial gold. The St. Mary squad faces Centennial in their first game, followed by matches with Carlton, Regina Martin, and Swift Current.
“This weekend we have to come out and play every match to the best of our ability,” Quintal said. “We’re not going to be able to take a match off and expect to win. We put a lot of time and effort into this season, so we need to be prepared physically and mentally to compete.”
Meanwhile, the Carlton Crusaders squeaked their way into the provincial final after grabbing the third and final spot in regionals.
Carlton won their first two games on Saturday against North Battleford (25-12, 25-12) and Warman (25-17, 14-25, 15-12), while dropping their final two against Lloydminster (17-25, 17-25) and St. Mary (16-25, 21-25).
They finished the tournament with a 2-2 record, securing third spot and a berth at provincials in Saskatoon this weekend.
A preview of the Carlton Sr. Boys team will be in the Friday edition of the Daily Herald.