Gabrielle Roy, Steinbach Regional fall in AAAA volleyball semi-finals
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The hopes of schools to snag the top high school varsity volleyball banner in the province were dashed in the semi-finals, as Steinbach Regional Secondary School’s girls team and Gabrielle-Roy’s boys team were both defeated at the University of Manitoba.
On the boys side, the clock struck midnight for the normally AA Les Roys.
The Ile des Chenes-based French Language school with under 300 students decided to compete at the AAAA level this season and made the provincial final four, but fell in four sets to the St Paul’s Crusaders.
“We did (have them on the run) but you’ve gotta do that for the entire three sets that you want to win,” Les Roys head coach Michel Lavergne told the Winnipeg Free Press.
“Defensively, I thought we were not that sound and typically you need four guys rolling and we had three. So it just wasn’t enough.”
Gabrielle-Roy had their chances to take the match, winning the first set and building a big lead and forcing an early St Paul’s time-out in the second.
The second-seeded Crusaders eventually took control, grinding out three consecutive sets to win the match 3-1 (18-25. 26-24, 26-24, 25-21). Two of St Paul’s three set victories had a winning score above 25.
Les Roys had excellent support inside the Investor’s Group Athletic Centre, vastly out-numbering and out-voicing their St Paul’s counterparts. Even a fan dressed as Santa Claus lending his support wasn’t enough to power the small school past the Winnipeg powerhouse.
The Crusaders would fall in straight sets to the top-seeded River East Kodiaks in the final. The victory capped a perfect season for the Kodiaks.
Gabrielle-Roy’s Logan Barnabe, who was named the AAAA junior varsity most valuable player in last year’s tournament, was named an all-star this year.
Steinbach Regional would be felled by the eventual champions, Vincent Massey Vikings (Brandon) in a five set (23-22, 25-20. 21-25, 30-28, 15-11) marathon.
Vincent Massey was able to survive four match points in the lengthy fourth set and power on to win the fifth and clinch a title chance. They defeated Jeanne-Sauve in the finals.
“I’m incredibly proud of our girls and how they showed up for this game,” head coach Amy Toews said after the semi-final.
“They were a little nervous coming into it because their last match against Massey (in the St. Vital tournament) did not go well at all. It was a beating. So the fact we came out and played the way we did tonight, I think they can hold their heads up high because Massey’s a good team.”
The Vikings were led by tournament most valuable player Jersey Hansen-Young, who was recently named the top player in the province in a Free Press coach’s poll. Hansen-Young finished with 32 kills in the semi-final victory. It was Vincent Massey’s first girls varsity AAAA championship.
Steinbach’s Kiersten Reimer was named one of the tournament’s all-stars.
With files from Mike Sawatzky
