Following last week’s Super Volley games, it was time to break out the calculators.
The Porter Creek Rams and the Vanier Crusaders both finished the senior girls regular season with 3-1 records.
Using a Volleyball Canada-approved tie-breaker system, it was determined that the Rams earned the No. 1 position, taking a bye into Friday’s final.
The Crusaders will face the F.H. Collins Warriors in Thursday’s semifinal. Both games will be held at Porter Creek Secondary.
The Warriors finished the regular season winless with a pair of losses at home last week. They lost 25-19, 25-13, 25-22 to the Porter Creek Rams on Thursday but showed their competitiveness in the Whitehorse high school league with a tight 25-12, 25-11, 23-25, 26-24 loss to the Vanier Crusaders on Friday.
“We’re slowly coming together as a team, so we’re building and working on our communication and our intensity right now,” said Warriors head coach Jackie Taylor. “I feel when they are playing well, they are really focused and intense and communicating really well.
“The other two teams have a few more experienced players - they’ve played more as a team together - and our team is really young. We have three Grade 12s and 10 Grade 11s. Next year we’ll be really strong, but even now I think we’re shining pretty well.”
In the third set on Friday the Warriors took a 6-0 lead before the Crusaders caught up at 9-9 on an ace from captain Chloe Turner-Davis. Down 22-18, the Warriors stayed in it with back-to-back aces from Meghan Simmons. Teammate Avery Bramadat then sent over three hard, flat, unreturned serves for the set.
The next set the Crusaders took the match on some tough serves from Yuranty Pourier and a kill from Turner-Davis.
Warriors middle Alex Maltais and Vanier setter Kate Londero were named Players of the Game.
“We were missing three of our players - our starting setter and two of our middles - so we didn’t get a lot of subs,” said Turner-Davis. “So for the girls to go out and keep the energy up and bring it back, it was so nice to see. We had an up-and-down in the middle of the game and for us to keep it together was really nice.”
The Warriors also picked up steam in the third set against Porter Creek on Thursday, tying the Rams 22-22 on a kill from Aimee Parker. However, the Rams got back on top as captain Tayla McNally blocked an attack for a point and teammate Teah Dickson logged an ace and a service winner for the match.
The Rams, who are the defending Yukon champs, won the senior girls division at the 36th annual Dawson Invitational Volleyball Tournament over the Halloween weekend.
“All of us played together out 9/10 year and went triple crown (winning Dawson, Super Volley and Yukon championships) then as well, so we’re glad to be back with the same team,” said McNally. “It’s a strong team, so we’re happy to be back with each other, for sure.”
Following Thursday’s game Warriors’ Laurie Reti and Rams’ Ashley Lai were named Players of the Game.
“Our setter wasn’t playing today because she has a broken knuckle, so we had a new setter, (Ashley Lai), playing her first game,” said McNally. “She’s happy and we’re proud of her. She did a good job today.”
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com