The Briercrest Christian Academy Cougars came within a single win of a gold medal but ended up settling for silver at the SHSAA 3A girls provincial volleyball championship this past weekend.
The Cougars dropped a 25-15, 25-19 decision to Lanigan in the championship final in Macklin, capping an impressive run through the playoff round that included a huge upset in the quarter-final.
Briercrest Christian finished the round robin with a 1-3 record but came up big in their first playoff game, defeating Unity 25-20, 15-25, 15-6 to advance to the semifinal.
As it turns out, Briercrest wasn’t done there, either, as they’d knock off Dalmeny 25-16, 25-17 to advance to the gold medal game.
Briercrest Christian opened the tournament with a 25-16, 25-19 loss to Lanigan before picking up what would be a crucial 25-13, 31-29 win over Maple Creek -- with the way things played out the rest of the round robin, without that win, the Cougars would have missed the playoffs.
BCA ended up in a couple of barnburners in their next two games, losing 25-27, 25-13, 15-9 to Carnduff to close out play Friday before dropping a 25-23, 22-25, 15-13 decision to Macklin in their final round robin contest Saturday morning.
That set up the match with Unity, who had put together a 3-1 record in their round robin and were the top seeds out of Pool B.
The news wasn’t as good for the two Moose Jaw entries at the 4A girls provincial tournament in Nipawin.
The Vanier Spirits posted a 2-2 record in their round robin but lost 25-18, 25-11 to the tournament hosts in their quarter-final. Preliminary round action saw Vanier fall 25-17, 25-19 to North Battleford John Paul II before defeating Martensvile 25-22, 25-21 and losing a heartbreaker 25-10, 21-25, 15-10 to Lumsden in their final game Friday. Vanier locked down third place in their pool with a 25-16, 15-25, 15-6 win over Tisdale Saturday morning.
The Central Cyclones were unable to get out of their pool after posting a 1-3 record.
Central won their opener 25-20, 15-25, 15-12 over Meadow Lake but ran out of luck from there, falling 25-23, 25-22 to Humboldt, 25-18, 25-16 to Nipawin and dropping a tough 25-17, 13-25, 15-11 decision in their final round robin game -- where a win would have moved the Cyclones into the playoff round.
Both the Vanier Vikings and Central Cyclones have advanced to the 4A boys provincial championship after finishing first and third respectively in their regional at Yorkton Sacred Heart.
The two teams ended up facing each other in the semifinal where the city champion Vikings took a 16-25, 25-12, 15-7 victory to book their spot in provincials. Vanier then won the region with a 15-25, 25-15, 15-9 win over Melville.
The Cyclones had a must-win game against Lumsden to book their spot and took a 25-17, 25-17 win to finish third.
The two teams will now play in the 4A boys provincials in Meadow Lake this coming weekend.
At the 3A boys regional in Outlook, the city championship runner-up Assiniboia Rockets didn’t drop a set until the final, where they went on to a 26-28, 25-13, 25-10 win over Unity to earn the top seed for provincials in Assiniboia this weekend.
The Rockets went 3-0 in their round robin pool and defeated Outlook 25-13, 25-18 in the semifinal.
The Briercrest Christian Academy Cougars were also in action in Outlook but went 1-2 in the round robin and missed the playoffs.
The Cornerstone Christian School Falcons played in the 2A boys regional in at Regina Laval, finishing 1-1 in the preliminary round and falling 25-11, 25-21 to the host team in the semifinal to see their season come to an end.
Be sure to check www.shsaa.ca for provincial draws in the coming days.
