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MHSAA 2017 VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS

December 3, 2017 by  
Filed under Provincial and Territorial News

2017 MHSAA VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS

GOLD

SILVER

BRONZE

A GIRLS Elton Collegiate Rosenort Boissevains School
AA GIRLS Green Valley Niverville Collegiate Warren Collegiate
AAA GIRLS École secondaire Neelin High School Westgate Mennonite Collegiate Virden Collegiate
AAAAGIRLS Collège Jeanne-Sauvé Portage Collegiate Institute
A BOYS William Morton  Collegiate Institute Hamiota Collegiate Treherne Collegiate
AA BOYS Steinbach Christian Green Valley Wattern Collegiate
AAABOYS École secondaire Neelin High School Calvin Christian Collège régional Gabrielle Roy
AAAA BOYS Lord Selkirk River East Collegiate

Girls A Champions: Elton Collegiate

team photo

Girls AA Champions: Green Valley High School

Girls AAA Champions: École secondaire Neelin High School

Girls AAAA Champions:  Collège Jeanne-Sauvé

Boys A Champions: William Morton Collegiate Institute

Boys AA Champions: Steinbach Christian

Boys AAA Champions: École secondaire Neelin High School

Boys AAAA Champions: Lord Selkirk Regional Comprehensive School

 


Olympiens win girls volleyball title

By Taylor Allen

There’s a new powerhouse in Manitoba high school girls’ volleyball and it’s the Collège Jeanne-Sauvé Olympiens.

The No.1-ranked Olympiens won their first varsity girls’ provincial title in school history on Monday night, defeating the No.3-ranked Portage Collegiate Saints in four sets (26-24, 25-16, 19-25-25-14).

“It feels great,” said CJS head coach Ben Albrecht on winning the provincials. “I think we’re all physically and emotionally exhausted but this is the way you definitely want to finish the season.”

It may have been the first varsity girl’s title for the school, but this team is no stranger to winning provincial banners.

Five out of the six players in the starting lineup are in Grade 11 and won back-to-back junior varsity provincial championships before this season.

Albrecht said it’s a special group of young players.
“They compete so hard. They push each other and they strive for excellence all the time and that’s not just in big games, they’ve been doing that all year,” said Albrecht. “They don’t like to lose in practice and they don’t like to not play well in practice. They just work really hard all the time.”

Leading the group of Grade 11s for the Olympiens is left-side hitter Julia Arnold and setter Katreena Bentley. Arnold was named Player of the Game in the final and Bentley was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament. The young duo led the team to a 41-3 record in the regular season.

“We’re just really good at playing as a group,” said Arnold. “We’ve got some really good talent, obviously. Four of us played together on the same club team, but we’ve had great coaching through all of our years and it’s just … it’s great.”

The first set didn’t go as planned for the Olympiens, as they found themselves down 5-2 after committing five errors. CJS was able to recover to win the opening set in thrilling fashion, 26-24.

“We were pretty nervous but we found a way to get through it and that was good,” said Arnold, who was the No.8-ranked player in the Winnipeg Sun’s annual girls high school volleyball Top 10 coaches poll.

With the core of the team returning next season, it won’t be a surprise to anyone to see the Olympiens defend their title, but Albrecht isn’t thinking about that right now.

“We’ll have a lot of returning players, which obviously is a great fit for our school and program but we’re going to savour this one right now before we get too far ahead,” he said.

 

Girls all-stars
Maren Garcia — Mennonite Brethren

Olivia Weremy — Lord Selkirk

Shayne Nichols — Portage Collegiate

Justice Bryson — Portage Collegiate

Erika Vermette — Collège Jeanne-Sauvé

Julia Arnold — Collège Jeanne-Sauvé

Tournament MVP
Katreena Bentley — Collège Jeanne-Sauvé

Players’ Choice Award 
Jayda Nault — Westwood


Lord Selkirk Royals repeat as boys volleyball champions

BY TAYLOR ALLEN

For the second year in a row, the Lord Selkirk Royals will wear the crown as the top varsity boy’s high school volleyball team in the province.

The No.1-ranked Royals took down the No.2-ranked River East Kodiaks in four sets (21-25, 25-23, 25-18, 25-22) on

Monday night to win the provincial championship for the eighth time in school history. The Kodiaks were looking for their first provincial title in varsity boy’s volleyball since 1982.

Selkirk was led by their star left-side hitter Nigel Nielsen — the top-ranked player in the Winnipeg Sun’s annual high school volleyball Top 10 coaches poll. For Nielsen and four of his teammates, the victory on Monday capped off a perfect high school career with four provincial volleyball titles.

“It’s everything we’ve wanted,” said Nielsen, who will be playing at the University of Winnipeg next fall. “For five of us, every year we’ve played provincials and every year we’ve won a title. I couldn’t be happier. It’s a perfect high school career, what more can I say? I’m speechless.”

The Royals were able to overcome a disappointing first set loss to win three in a row. River East was close to extending the game to a fifth set, as they crawled back from a 23-18 deficit to make it a 24-22 game before Selkirk was able to close it out. The key to victory for Selkirk was slowing down Hudson Wall, the star left side hitter for River East. Wall was voted the No.2-ranked player in the Sun’s coaches poll.

“Our focus was going out against (Wall) and we had to leave a couple more things wide open in the middle and on the right side,” said Selkirk head coach Jeff Scarcello. “He’s such a good player — you’ve got to have two solid blocks up there.”

The final was a battle between familiar foes, as Selkirk and River East both play in the Kilcona Peguis Athletic Conference. The two teams met in the KPAC final last month with Selkirk coming out on top in three sets.

“These guys are champions through and through,” said Scarcello on his team who had a 31-4 record in the regular season. “They know what it takes to win and a big part of the success tonight was their experience. We didn’t play well in that first set but there was no panic. These guys were relaxed, they knew what we had to do and they just went out and played a good game.”

Boys all-stars
Shayne Gabel — St. Paul’s

Nathan Dyck — Dakota

Hudson Wall — River East

Noah Rempel — River East

Aidan Chisholm — Lord Selkirk

Tim Juvonen — Lord Selkirk

Tournament MVP
Nigel Nielsen — Lord Selkirk

Players’ Choice Award 
Austin Anderson — Niverville

 

 


Elton girls, Morton boys claim A banners

Kristin Collard (21) of the Elton Sabres and teammates celebrate after winning the provincial high school A girls' volleyball final against the Rosenort Redhawks at the Healthy Living Centre on Saturday.
TIM SMITH/THE BRANDON SUNKristin Collard (21) of the Elton Sabres and teammates celebrate after winning the provincial high school A girls’ volleyball final against the Rosenort Redhawks at the Healthy Living Centre on Saturday.

Spartans sweep AAA provincials


The second-seeded River East Kodiaks will head to the provincial final after a straight set victory over the third-seeded Dakota Collegiate Lancers (25-19, 25-22, 25-22) yesterday. The Kodiaks are led by Hudson Wall, who was ranked the second best player in the province in the Winnipeg Sun’s annual coaches poll. To the surprise of no one, Wall was the focal point River East’s offence in the semi-final last night at the Investors Group Athletic Centre. Dakota had two, sometimes three, blockers on him all game but it wasn’t enough to take down Wall.

“(Wall) played great for us. Going into the match, we knew, they knew, the crowd knew he was going to get 85 per cent of our volume,” said River East head coach Zack Diboll. “And good for him to be able to take that load for the team, the school, and he did awesome. I’m really happy for him.”

River East relied heavily on Wall in the third set as Dakota began to make a comeback. Dakota had a 22-21 lead with momentum and a section filled with students supporting them. But the Dakota supporters didn’t have much to cheer about for long, as River East regained the lead before Wall closed the game out with back-to-back kills.

“I love the big moment,” said Wall, who is six-foot-two and plays left side. “I love putting that ball away on game point.”

The victory over Dakota gives River East an opportunity to end a 35-year varsity boys provincial volleyball championship drought. It’s a drought that the coaching staff and players are well aware of.

“It would mean a lot (to end the championship drought). We’ve been working at this for four years,” said Wall, who has yet to commit to a school next fall. “We said at the beginning of this year that we want to play in December and the only shot at that was to make it to the finals and that’s what we’re doing.”

It’s been a major turnaround for River East’s volleyball program, as last year’s varsity boys team had a record around 8-30 according to Diboll. This year’s team was 30-8-2 heading into the semi-final and Diboll said the biggest difference from last year is how much his players matured.

“They took their licks last year and this year they’re giving them,” said Diboll, who’s been coaching the team for three years. “So, it’s really nice. I can’t say enough good things about the guys.”

The Kodiaks will meet a school in Monday’s final that are no strangers to giving out licks on the volleyball court and winning provincial banners. They will challenge the top-seeded Lord Selkirk Royals, who punched their ticket to the championship game after defeating the fourth-seeded St. Paul’s Crusaders in four sets (25-22, 25-23, 22-25, 25-22) in the late game last night.

The top-ranked Royals are led by the top-ranked player in the Winnipeg Sun’s annual coaches poll — Nigel Nielsen. Nielsen and the Royals will look to win their second provincial title in a row and their eighth in school history. 

Selkirk and River East are no strangers to one another, as both schools play in the Kilcona Peguis Athletic Conference. River East defeated Selkirk twice during the regular season of league play, but Selkirk came out on top in the KPAC final in straight sets (25-18, 25-10, 25-21).

“It’s always a fun battle with (River East),” said Nielsen, who will be playing volleyball at the University of Winnipeg next fall. “It’s a great game all the time and they got some huge power on the left side with (Wall). It’s going to be a great match.”

Selkirk and River East will play for the provincial championship on Monday night at the IGAC at 8 p.m. The girl’s provincial final between Collège Jeanne-Sauvé and Portage Collegiate will start the night at 6 p.m.

Championship schedule

(1) Lord Selkirk def. (4) St. Paul’s 3-1 (25-22, 25-23, 22-25, 25-22)

(2) River East def. (3) Dakota 3-0 (25-19, 25-22, 25-22)

Girls Final

Monday, Dec. 4

(1) Collège Jeanne-Sauvé vs. (3) Portage Collegiate — 6:00 p.m. at IGAC

Boys Final

Monday, Dec. 4

(1) Lord Selkirk vs. (2) River East — 8 p.m. at IGAC

(1) Lord Selkirk def. (4) St. Paul’s 3-1 (25-22, 25-23, 22-25, 25-22)

(2) River East def. (3) Dakota 3-0 (25-19, 25-22, 25-22)

Girls Final

Monday, Dec. 4

(1) Collège Jeanne-Sauvé vs. (3) Portage Collegiate — 6:00 p.m. at IGAC

Boys Final

Monday, Dec. 4

(1) Lord Selkirk vs. (2) River East — 8 p.m. at IGAC


 

 

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