Days before the North Battleford Comprehensive High School volleyball teams left for provincials, two members of the boys' team explained how they expected the entire weekend to full of meaningful, tough games.
Joey Peters and Kyle Sabraw knew what they were talking about, but they also, as two of the three seniors on the team, know how to help their team succeed at provincials. After a silver medal performance at regionals a weekend earlier, the Vikings continued their impressive play capturing silver at provincials in Prince Albert.
Friday, in their first round robin game, the Vikings played the host team, Prince Albert Carlton and defeated them 25-8, 25-11.
The Vikings then played the Regina champions from Campbell Collegiateand got off to a slow start. The Vikings eventually battled back to beat them 15-25, 28-26, 25-23 in what ended up being the match for first place in their pool.
Both Regina Campbell Collegiate and NBCHS went on to win the remainder of their round robin games. The Vikings ended Friday's action with a straight sets victory over Bishop James Mahoney from Saskatoon 25-17, 25-21. Saturday morning, they went up against the south regional champions from Yorkton and defeated them 25-13, 25-10, as they finished 4-0 in their pool and moved to the quarter-finals.
NBCHS met up against Regina Balfour and won 26-24, 25-17 Saturday afternoon in their first playoff game.
Next, in the semifinal match, the Vikings played the champions from Saskatoon - the St. Joseph's Guardians.The Vikings went on to beat St. Joseph in three sets 25-13, 22-25, 25-12.
The underdog Vikings moved on to the provincial final against their rivals from Prince Albert St. Mary's and suffered their only defeat of the weekend. After losing 25-19, 26-24 at regionals, the Vikings fell 25-18, 25-20 to St. Mary's again in the provincial final.
The season has been a process for the Vikings, as they continually developed and improved and played some of their best volleyball at regionals in the semifinal against Meadow Lake, which was how they clinched a spot in provincials. Their first in nearly a decade. The momentum and focus from the game against Meadow Lake carried the Vikings through provincials and helped coach Bruce Friesen, Joey Peters, Kyle Sabraw, Dalton Wright, Isaac Schultz, Dalin Stone, Mitch Bristow, Jackson Nyholt, Mike Elias and Bryce Craig cap off the season with a provincial medal.
The NBCHS girls' team looked to continue their momentum from a regional gold medal, but at provincials they fell just short against some stiff competition.
In their first round robin game again Moose Jaw Central, the Vikings won the first set 25-15, but lost 25-22, 25-16.
The Vikings went to three sets again in their second match beating Weyburn 25-18, 18-25, 25-22.
Saturday, the Vikings lost 25-23, 25-14 to Regina Campbell.
The final round robin game went to three sets again, as the Vikings lost 25-23, 16-25, 25-23. The Vikings made it through to the quarter-finals via a tie breaking formula, as they were tied with Moose Jaw Central and Weyburn at 1-3.
North Battleford faced Regina LeBoldus in the playoffs and lost in straight sets, 25-12, 25-22, as their season came to an end.
