As volleyball season winds down for the season, our local athletes have a lot to be proud of.
Niverville High School ran five volleyball teams this fall: two Junior Varsity (JV) girls teams, one JV boys team, one Varsity girls team, and one Varsity boys team.
The JV girls Red team was created as a developmental team and was coached by high school students. The JV girls Black team was the competition squad, and they had the distinction of winning the Zone championship. They went on to compete in the AAA Provincial championships in Altona, losing out in the quarterfinals.
“The boys JV and Varsity teams were both very competitive, young teams,” says Ron Limpright, one of the coaches of the Varsity boys squad.
Unfortunately, both of those teams lost in their Zone finals, meaning they didn’t qualify for Provincials. However, Marcus Zeilstra from the Varsity squad was named a graduating all-star.
Limpright explains that the Varsity girls chose to move up a division this year so they could play at the ultra-competitive AAAA level. Even at that new and more advanced level, the girls performed well, winning both their home tournament and the Calvin Christian School tournament.
They went into their Provincials ranked ninth. Ultimately, they were eliminated in the quarterfinals in a very close match, losing 15–12 in the fifth set.
Aysia Richards and Malia Thiessen were named graduating all-stars.
The coaches at Niverville High School were also thrilled to be able to use their large space to host tournaments this year for the first time. They welcomed 36 JV teams in September and 32 Varsity teams in October.
The École et Collège régional Gabrielle-Roy (CRGR) Les Roys compete at the A/AA level and both the JV girls and boys teams made it to Provincials. The JV girls were bested in the quarterfinals, but the JV boys were able to take it all the way and won the A/AA championship for the second year in a row. During the tournament, they won all six of their matches.
Four local boys received special honours at Provincials. David Lemoine of Ste. Agathe was named the tournament MVP, and Alec Ouimet and Martin DeMoissac, also from Ste. Agathe, and Jacob Boisjoilie of St. Adolphe were named all-stars.
The CRGR Varsity boys made it to Provincials as well but lost to Landmark in the finals. Max Vermette of St. Adolphe was named the tournament MVP and Noah Ouimet of Ste. Agathe was an all-star.
Of special note is Ste. Agathe resident Benjamin Doan, who plays for the Glenlawn Lions in Winnipeg. The Lions won the AAAA JV Boys championship. To make that achievement even sweeter, Doan was named Provincials MVP.