They’ll see a season filled with middling performances in league play before heading off to provincial playdowns where, when facing schools their own size, it’s all winning, all the time.
Such was the case for the Cornerstone Christian School Falcons in the girls regional volleyball championships this past weekend.
After posting a regular season record of 1-7 in losing in the semifinals to the Peacock Toilers in Moose Jaw high school league play, the Falcons were in action at the 2A West championships in Saskatoon this past weekend.
The 2A class is for schools with 41 to 85 students, with the Falcons slotting in at the high end with 79. The Moose Jaw league finalists on the other hand, the Peacock Toilers and Vanier Spirits – more on them later – sport 394 and 321 students respectively.
So once Cornerstone was in amongst their peers, things were far different.
The Falcons went undefeated in pool play, knocking off both Davidson and Shaunavon 2-1.
That gave them the top spot in the playoff round, where they took a 2-1 win over Plenty to officially earn a spot in the 2A provincial championships in Foam Lake next weekend.
Cornerstone closed out regionals with a 2-0 loss to top-seeded LCBI in the regional final, a contest played to help determine provincial seeding.
The provincial appearance will be the first for the Cornerstone girls in the 22-year history of the program, and comes on the heels of a stellar season outside of Moose Jaw – a run that includes four gold, two silver and a bronze medal in seven tournaments this season.
Meanwhile, the Toilers and Vikings were working their way through their own 4A regional tournament alongside the Central Cyclones, with the end result essentially mirroring league play.
The Toilers would take first place out of the seven-team tournament, defeating the Spirits 2-1 in the championship final. As a result, both teams advance to the provincial tournament in Fort Qu’Appelle on the Nov. 15 weekend.
Peacock went undefeated in round robin action and didn’t drop a game in the process, defeating Fort Qu’Appelle, Regina Johnson and Notre Dame 2-0 each. Vanier, meanwhile, swept Central 2-0 in their opener before battling to a 2-1 win over host Lumsden. The Cyclones lost their other round robin contest 2-0 to Lumsden and were eliminated.
The semifinals saw neither Vanier or Peacock face a serious challenge, as they booked their respective provincials spots with a 2-0 win over Notre Dame and 2-0 win over Lumsden respectively.
Be sure to check SHSAA.ca early next week for the provincial draws.
The Moose Jaw high school volleyball league finals are set for this coming Wednesday, Nov. 13, with Peacock facing Vanier for the girls title at 6:20 p.m. and the Vanier Vikings taking on the Central Cyclones for gold in the boys final at 8 p.m.
Both contests are at Sask Polytech, with the school announcing Friday that the student parking lot will be free to park in for fans that night.
