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St. Augustine Kings crowning victory, Queens first fall

Senior volleyball action sees differing results for local high school teams
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St. A senior Queens Jaycee Tebb drives this ball from the power position over the block during the opening set of the match against David Thompson on Sept. 27. Photos by Jordie Dwyer

With the volleyball season just a couple of weeks in, the senior teams at St. Augustine School are in the middle of the pack and ready to break loose.

The Kings senior boys’ squad beat up on a rather young and inexperienced team from St. Dominic’s on Sept. 27 at the St. A gym to run its league record to a win and a loss.

The crew, coached by Justin Florean, is stacked this season with a number of Grade 12 players,who used their experience to dominate St. Dominic’s by scores of 25-15, 25-16, 25-5. The boys opened the season on Sept. 20 in Penhold where they lost a thrilling five set match 21-25, 22-25, 25-10, 27-25, 11-15.

Meanwhile, the Queens senior girls saw their record fall to two wins and a loss after being beaten that same night by David Thompson High School in four sets — 19-25, 24-26, 25-11, 19-25.

Coach Darren Josephison said the match was a little bit of a setback, after having beaten Penhold a week earlier as well as two-time defending league champs Rimbey.

“We are in a good position to finish in one of the three zone playoff spots available,” he said.

“We have a very solid team that has a powerful mix of hitters, great setting and solid defence. The hope is to continue to improve throughout the season and qualify for provincials.”

The Queens are made up of four players each from Grades 11 and 12 with three Grade 10s added in and Josephison attributed the loss to the club’s inability to be consistent, combined with a strong opposition.

While the Queens are concentrating on their league play, the team has shown success in tournament play — losing the consolation final at the Red Deer College hosted high school tournament, falling in a tight semifinal match in Camrose and capturing top spot in Consort before walking away from the Wetaskiwin tournament this past weekend with a silver medal.

Royal Rumblings - Both senior teams are in Pigeon Lake tonight (Oct. 4) and then in Maskwacis Oct. 11 to continue league play before hosting the 10th Annual Turkey Burner tournament Oct. 13 and 14. With 10 boys and 10 girls teams, it could be the largest high school volleyball tournament to be held in Ponoka.

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Hannah Morin from the St. A senior Queens gets this kill attempt past the block during a lengthy rally in their match Sept. 27 versus David Thompson.
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A pair of Queens, Jessica Mathieu and Hannah Morin, were the perfect match to thwart this attack from a David Thompson player during the opening set on Sept. 27. Photo by Jordie Dwyer
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Senior Kings Daniel ten Haaf gets some good power on this spike with the much shorter St. Dominic’s player looking on helplessly during the second set Sept. 27. Photo by Jordie Dwyer