Area schools preparing for volleyball provincials

Volleyball is one of the most played sports in the Manitoba High School Athletic Association and the provincial championships are right around the corner.

The Zone banners have been awarded, the first rounds have been completed and the wildcards have been announced, as the full slate of teams participating across the four levels of varsity high school volleyball in Manitoba have been announced by the association.

AAAA

A loss to Glenlawn in the South Central Athletic Association semi-finals on their home court Nov. 12 didn’t stop the Steinbach Regional Secondary School’s boys varsity from getting an automatic spot in the provincial AAAA quarterfinals. The team is ranked second in the heading into provincials.

Glenlawn was the only team to defeat Steinbach in the SCAC league this season, as the Sabres put together an 11-1 league record along with sparkling season of tournament results, including wins in the St Vital Invitational, Royals Spike-Off, St Paul’s VITT and the Daniel McIntyre tournament.

Dakota, St Paul’s and Ile des Chenes’-based Gabrielle-Roy also earned quarterfinal berths thanks to their provincial rankings.

Steinbach will play the winner between 10th-rated Vincent Massey (Brandon) and 7th-ranked River East in their quarterfinal, while Gabrielle-Roy takes on the winner between 5th-ranked Vincent Massey (Winnipeg) and 12th-place Sisler.

Steinbach’s girls team didn’t have as much luck in the draw after dropping the SCAC final to Jeanne-Sauve. They are the highest rated team to not get a quarterfinal berth, and will play the Garden City Gophers in the first round. If they can defeat the Gophers, they’ll take on Jeanne-Sauve in a re-match of their league final in the quarters.

Steinbach’s only league loss of the season was to Jeanne-Sauve. The Sabres couldn’t find tournament magic this season, falling in the semi-finals or quarterfinals throughout the season after strong showings in the group stages.

The qualifying and quarterfinal varsity AAAA matches will take place in Brandon Nov. 20/22, before the venue turns to the University of Manitoba for the final four. The semi-finals will be Nov. 27 and the final will be Dec. 1.

Steinbach Regional’s junior varsity teams are also both playing in their respective championships, which are hosted in Winnipeg beginning Nov. 20 this season. Both lost in the SCAC finals this season, but the boys team was still able to reach the power pool. Gabrielle-Roy’s junior varsity team is also playing at the AAAA level and in the power pool.

AAA

The AAA Zone 13 championships finished in Niverville and Beausejour Nov. 17, with the host Panthers coming out on top of the boys bracket, defeating Steinbach Christian School in straight sets.

The Panthers made it a clean sweep of the Zone 13 AAA banners, also defeating Steinbach Christian School to lock up a spot at provincials.

The “power pools” for the tournaments had yet to be set as of press time. The AAA provincials begin Nov. 27 across Winnipeg. Girls playoffs will be at Linden Christian and boys at Springs Christian School.

Altona’s W.C. Miller Aces have also qualified through Zone 4.

A/AA

All of the non-AAAA provincial championships will begin Nov. 27, but no school in the region is hosting this year.

No team from the region qualified for the A varsity provincials on the boys or girls side of the tournament. In the AA boys varsity ranks the Zone 13 champion Green Valley Pirates (Grunthal) will be joined by Zone 4’s Morris Mavericks at provincials at Major Pratt School in Russell.

The girls AA provincial varsity championship is at Prairie Mountain High School in Somerset, and is full of Zone 13 participants.

Landmark, Gabrielle-Roy and Green Valley all qualified for provincials. The Zone 13 champion St Joachim Braves went 0-3 at their qualifying tournament Nov. 15 and will not be playing for a second banner. The Rosenort Redhawks are also playing at provincials.

For more photos from the SCAC semi-finals and the boys Zone 13 championships, be sure to check out Carillon Sports Second Shots, published at www.thecarillon.com/sports every Wednesday.