Home court advantage proved to be beneficial for the John Paul II Crusaders junior volleyball teams Saturday.
The Crusaders junior girls’ team finished in second place while the junior boys’ squad nabbed a third place finish during the school’s annual junior volleyball tournament.
The Crusaders girls’ team finished in second place in round-robin play and defeated Hafford in straight sets in the semifinal, before they suffered a straight sets loss (25-27 and 23-25) to Unity in the championship game.
“That final was a back and forth match right from the start,” Crusaders head coach Janet Benoit said. “Both teams traded the lead in both sets and that made it a very entertaining game to watch.
“The team is starting to attack the net a little bit more and our serving was very strong. We’re really improving in that part of our game, but there’s still some things with our overall technique that we can fix as we go forward.”
Saturday’s tournament was a bit of a slow start for the Crusaders boys’ team, as it marked their first in-game action of the season.
They picked things up as the day went along, however, and eventually beat out Hafford for third place honours.
“It was definitely a learning experience for them early on but they were playing really well by the end of the tournament,” Crusaders head coach Dee-Jaye Hesselberg said.
“The progress that they made was unreal. There were some nerves early on but they got used to the rotations that they were doing and made a ton of progress. If we started like we finished, we may have had a chance to win the whole thing.”
Unity defeated North Battleford Comprehensive High School in the final.
Both Crusaders teams will be back in action next weekend.
The girls’ squad is competing in Unity while the boys’ team is heading to Lashburn.
