Gabrielle-Roy, Steinbach Regional fall in provincial AAAA semis

Dreams of adding a top-tier volleyball banner to the walls of a local high school gym came to an end Nov. 27 in Winnipeg as both Gabrielle-Roy and Steinbach Regional Secondary School’s varsity boys volleyball teams fell in the provincial semi-finals.

Les Roys were taken down in straight sets by eventual champions St Paul’s in convincing fashion. The small school, which normally plays at the AA level but moves up to the AAAA level for boys volleyball, were dominated in the first two sets, falling behind 16-6 and 21-12 in a pair of lopsided scores.

The third saw the underdogs come alive, as the top ranked St Paul’s team were pushed to the limit, with Les Roys taking a 19-17 lead, before finally falling 27-25.

It was the closest any team came to giving St Paul’s a set loss at provincials, as the Crusaders swept all three matches they played at the tournament to clinch their first provincial volleyball championship since 2015.

“The confidence level was through the roof,” Crusaders head coach Dustin Spiring told the Winnipeg Free Press after a 3-0 win over Dakota in the finals.

“We knew that we had what it took this year, and everyone kind of had to play to us. To execute a game plan like that and stay locked in… really proud of our boys.”

The other semi-final was also a straight sets victory, as Dakota overcame deficits in the first two sets before closing out the third, eliminating a strong SRSS team.

The Sabres were ranked second in the province, but fell in the semi-finals during both league playoffs and provincials.

Steinbach took a 19-13 lead in the first set and appeared on track to set up a heavyweight tilt in the final against St Paul’s, but Dakota would storm back to win and grab momentum for the rest of the match.

Erik Neufeld from SRSS and Colin Vermette from Gab-Roy were named tournament all-stars.

On the girls side of the bracket the Vincent Massey Vikings defeated Jeanne-Sauve 3-1 (25-15, 26-24, 23-25, 25-17) to win the banner.

They were led by tournament MVP Hannah McGregor, who was recently named the top player in the province in a Winnipeg Free Press coaches poll.

McGregor finished with 25 kills including the match winner.

“She’s an amazing athlete,” Vikings head coach Kelly DeRoo said.

“I kind of figured she’d go off in this match and just score, and they weren’t able to shut her down, so (setter) Kaitlyn (Couckuyt) and I had a conversation that unless they start digging her, we might as well just keep giving her the ball.”

The other tiers of volleyball finished their varsity provincial championships this weekend as well.

In the AA boys finals, hosted at Major Pratt School, both Grunthal’s Green Valley Pirates and the Morris/St Jean co-op Mavericks finished last in their round robin pools and did not advance to the knockouts. Carberry would win the banner.

On the Girls side of the AA championship, Gabrielle-Roy won their pool, defeating Landmark in the quarterfinals and Rosenort in the semis, before falling to Warren in the finals 2-0 (25-14, 25-16). Green Valley finished fifth in their pool.

In the boys AAA championship, Niverville and Steinbach Christian School had a rematch of the Zone 13 finals in the first knockout round, with the Panthers once again coming out on top.

Niverville lost 2-1 (25-17, 14-25, 15-11) to eventual champions Neelin in the quarterfinals.

Niverville had worse luck in the AAA girls bracket, falling in the first knockout round to Leo-Remillard. Altona’s W.C. Miller Aces made a run to the finals, but were defeated by Westgate.

No teams from the region qualified for the A provincials on either the girls or boys side. Morweena claimed the girls banner, with Glenboro winning the boys.

For more photos from the semi-finals, check out Carillon Sports Second Shots, posted every Wednesday at www.thecarillon.com/sports.

With files from Joshua Frey-Sam