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Stinger girls claim silver at provincials

When the Mallaig senior high girls volleyball players sat down at the beginning of the season with the Stingers’ coaching staff, led by Ian MacGillivray, to determine what would be an acceptable performance goal to strive for, the consensus was to ai
The Mallaig Stingers girls found themselves shattering their own expectations, progressing all the way to the 1A finals at the provincial championships this weekend, and
The Mallaig Stingers girls found themselves shattering their own expectations, progressing all the way to the 1A finals at the provincial championships this weekend, and claiming silver.

When the Mallaig senior high girls volleyball players sat down at the beginning of the season with the Stingers’ coaching staff, led by Ian MacGillivray, to determine what would be an acceptable performance goal to strive for, the consensus was to aim to be competitive at zones.

The team can now consider those expectations shattered.

The Stingers won zones two weekends ago, and this past weekend, the young volleyball team marched to a silver medal at the Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association (ASAA) 1A High School Volleyball Provincials. The tournament was hosted from Thursday to Saturday in Fairview at St. Thomas More Catholic School.

In an interview with the Journal on Sunday, MacGillivray expressed pride over how his team, primarily made up of Grade 10 students, performed at the most high profile and competitive tournament of the volleyball season.

“The girls really did up their game this weekend,” said the coach. “They did a tremendous job staying in every single point and our team defense was incredible again.”

The Stingers great weekend of play began with a strong showing in the round robin games. The girls earned a record of 3-1 playing in pool ‘B’. They prevailed in straight sets over the host school and Rosemary School, and they vanquished Senator Gershaw School in a tie-breaking third set. St. Thomas Aquinas School, the eventual champion of the tournament, handed the Stingers their only blemish of the pool stage. Aquinas won in two sets.

The loss put second ranked Mallaig into a quarterfinal showdown against Parkland Immanuel School, a team that finished third in Pool ‘A’.

MacGillivray said the Stingers stumbled in the first set against Parkland, losing 25-9. Mallaig bounced back with a 25-22 win in the second game to force a tie breaking set. The Stingers took the match in convincing fashion with a 15-8 triumph in the third set.

MacGillivray said his team “served incredible” against Living Waters Christian Academy in the semi-final, which placed their opponent “at a disadvantage throughout the match.” The Stingers powered to a 25-13 win in the first set and a 25-19 in the second to earn a berth in the gold medal game.

The Stingers pushed hard against St. Thomas Aquinas School in the final. After dropping the first set 25-22, the Stingers dug deep and battled to a 25-22 win in the second set. The Aquinas girls responded in a big way in the third set and took the championship with a 15-9 decision.

The fact that the players that managed to produce this performance at provincials are eligible to return to the Stingers next year suggests that similar success in 2016 is a possibility. MacGillivray said he told the girls that in order to do well next year, every player on the team needs to commit to become even better volleyball players.

The coach said he marvels with how the girls “rapidly progressed with the hitting, serving, setting and blocking aspects” of the game this past season.

The Mallaig coaching staff and players would like to thank the parents and community members that supported the team by going to Fairview, or by taking in the game by watching the live stream that was available on the ASAA website.

Teams

Mallaig School’s senior boys team fared the second best of the four SPAA teams that qualified for provincials. The Stingers finished in fourth place at the 1A school tournament, which was held in Falher at École Héritage School.

The Stingers earned second place in pool ‘A’ as a result of finishing with a 3-1 record, which earned them a date in the quarterfinals with the third ranked team in pool ‘B,’ Olds Koinonia Christian School. The Stingers slipped by Olds in three sets. The score of the deciding set was 15-13.

The host school ended the Stingers’ gold medal hopes in the semi-final. The game was decided in straight sets, 25-14 and 25-16.

The loss dropped the boys into the bronze medal game against New Norway School. The game was tight, but in the end New Norway creeped by the Stingers in two sets, 25-19 and 26-24.

The weekend was not as kind to the girls and boys representing St. Paul Regional High School at 3A provincials. Both the girl and boys finished with 0-5 records in round robin action. The Lady Saints were competing at Bonnyville Centralized High School and the boys were partaking in on-court action at Peace Wapiti Academy in Grande Prairie.

Hank Smid, the head coach of the Saints girls, wrote in an email that his team’s winless record is deceptive.

“We feel that record does not accurately describe how we played. We lost one match in two sets to the eventual provincial champion and the best team going into the championship - St. Albert Skyhawks. The four other matches went to three sets with each opponent. As a team, we were very happy with the level of volleyball we played.”

Smid added that he is proud of his team’s play and shares the girls’ disappointment with how the tournament unfolded. He wrote that he hopes the girls realize they played a good tournament despite not making the playoff cut.

The Regional boys performance at provincials was also more competitive than their record suggests. Three of their five round robin matches went to three sets, and one of their two set losses came at the hands of Barrhead Composite School, the eventual provincial champion.

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