Dave Leaderhouse
Special to the Herald
The 2026-27 school year is less than a week old, but the first real test for those competing in extra-curricular activities will be held this weekend when St. Mary High School hosts its annual senior boys’ volleyball tournament beginning on Friday at 1 p.m.
There will be 16 teams grouped in four pools of four each vying for the championship with the host Marauders opening the tournament with a match against Melfort. Carlton Comprehensive High School is also entered in the event with their first game also slated for a 1 p.m. start when Swift Current will provide the opposition. A third local entry, the St. Mary junior squad, will take on Saskatoon Centennial at 2 p.m.
The senior Marauders are coming off a season that saw them host the Saskatchewan High School Athletic Association 5A provincial championships and despite going 2-2 and falling to the eventual champion Holy Cross Crusaders out of Saskatoon in the quarter-finals, St. Mary head coach Rene Quintal was quite pleased with his team’s performance.
“There was a lot of positive growth as a group last year,” says Quintal.
The Marauders have lost four key players to graduation from last year, but Quintal says this year’s squad will be very competitive.
“We are a well-balanced team,” explains Quintal. “We will have to make good use of our offence based on the opponent’s weaknesses.”
This weekend’s tournament kicks off a busy tournament schedule that will see the Marauders head to Saskatoon next weekend for the University of Saskatchewan event followed by stops in Swift Current and Spruce Grove, Alta., among others, before regional playdowns take place in late November. Quintal says getting back to provincials will be tough as just two northern clubs will move on from that regional event, but he is confident in his group.
“It is going to be very difficult to qualify (for provincials),” notes Quintal. “The landscape has changed. There are no easy matches at regionals.”
While the senior boys are at home this weekend, the St. Mary senior girls head to Saskatoon for the U of S Invitational. Marauder coach Shaun Hunko says his squad has seven returning players and seven new faces so getting some game action in will help bring everything together.
“We had some injury trouble last year down the stretch so the goal this year is to get back to provincials,” says Hunko. “It will be a challenge as all of the teams are pretty good.”
“We just finalized the team on the weekend so having the seven returning players will really help,” added Hunko.
Like the senior boys, the senior girls also have a busy tournament schedule with their first appearance in Prince Albert coming next weekend when they will attend the Carlton Invitational. They will host their own event on Sept. 25-26 with several more stops planned before regionals in late November.
Action at the St. Mary senior boy’s tournament this weekend will run all day on Friday and resume at 8 a.m. on Saturday. Playoffs begin Saturday afternoon with the medal games scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. start.
