The HCI boys' volleyball team fell just short of qualifying for provincials over the weekend, missing out thanks to a tiebreaker that went the wrong way.
The team started strong at the 4A regional tournament held in Humboldt over the weekend, winning their first two matches against Clavet and Tisdale.
Unfortunately for HCI and coach Dave Millette, they played a somewhat sloppy game and lost against Kelvington in two straight sets.
"We came out really strong on Friday," Millette said. "Saturday morning was disappointing. I don't think we played to the level we knew we could."
The Mohawks took a lead late into the first set against Kelvington but were unable to close it out, losing 25-23. HCI began the second set making some simple errors and fell behind early. They were unable to make up the difference and lost the second set 25-18, and with it the match.
The loss put HCI in a situation no team wants to be in - relying on others for help. The Mohawks were thrown into a complicated tiebreaker scenario where they needed Kelvington to win at least one set against Clavet. That didn't happen and the Mohawks' season was over.
"Friday showed out team's potential," Millette said. "I'm proud of the boys regardless of how things turned out."
Nipawin was the winner of the tournament, defeating Clavet in two sets to advance to the provincial championships this weekend in Oxbow.
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Things went a bit better for the home team at the 2A regional boys tournament in Muenster, where the hosts won the tournament without dropping a set and will play at the provincials in Hepburn this weekend.
Muenster beat both Norquay and Leask in straight sets to win their pool and advance to the semi-finals to face Debden, where they won 25-22, 25-10.
In the final Muenster took on Cudworth and again won without dropping a set, 25-11, 25-22. What made Muenster's victory even more impressive was that many of the players on the volleyball team were playing soccer for the school less than a month ago. There wasn't much time to prepare.
"Other schools are primarily volleyball or soccer schools," said Joel Taphorn, a teacher at the school and commissioner of the tournament. "We have a good group of Grade 10-12 boys who also helped us win silver in soccer."
The performance is an improvement over last year, when Muenster failed to qualify for the provincials.
