The Canora Cougars senior girls volleyball team celebrated on its home court after winning the final match in the Canora Composite School (CCS) tournament held on October 27-28.
The Cougars boys team hosted its side of the tournament and produced a strong effort, but it didn’t translate to wins on the scoreboard.
The boys section of the tournament consisted of five teams. The visiting teams were from Sturgis, St. Brieux, Wadena and Sturgeon Lake. In round robin play, each team had four matches, one against every team, said Steve Merriam, first-year Cougars coach.
The Cougars went winless in all four of the best-of-three matches, but did force Wadena and St. Brieux to the limit by winning a set in each match.
Merriam said he was pleased with the effort of his team and the group’s willingness to learn, both during the tournament and throughout the season to this point. He said the team has done well to create opportunities to win a number of matches, but has struggled in closing out those matches.
“Probably the highlight of the season to this point was winning a set against Rocanville during the tournament in Langenburg, because Rocanville went on to win the tournament,” said Merriam.
He said the team has made good progress during the season, which is only the second year of having a competitive senior boys volleyball team at CCS. He said the school’s junior boys team is flourishing, which gives him even more optimism for next year.
Merriam was looking for further improvement in the Cougars in preparation for the conference playoff tournament on November 11 in Langenburg.
He is enjoying his first year as the Cougars coach, and appreciates the support of the Good Spirit School Division in giving him the opportunity. Since Merriam is not a CCS staff member, Helen Forbes, CCS teacher, has joined the team as manager and provided valuable organizational and moral support.
First place in the CCS boys tournament went to Sturgis, thanks to a victory over Norquay in the final match. Sturgis and Norquay had been playing together as a combined team earlier in the season.
The Cougar senior girls team was in a group of five teams for the CCS tournament, including Kamsack, Wadena, Norquay and Porcupine Plain.
In their opening round robin match, the Cougars won two straight close sets by scores of 25-20 and 25-21 against Kamsack. This seemed to give the team momentum, as the Cougars won the three remaining round robin matches without losing a single set.
In the playoff round, the Cougars met Wadena in the semifinal, which proved to be a stiff challenge. Wadena managed to win one set, but the Cougars came back to take the deciding game and move on to the final match of the tournament.
The Cougars won the final in two straight sets by scores of 25-12 and 25-9 over Kamsack. The Cougars obviously enjoy home cooking, after winning six straight matches, and 12 out of 13 sets in the CCS tournament.
After losing their only set of the tournament in the second set of the semifinal, Colin Knight, Cougars coach, said he told the team it was time to make a fresh start.
“That third set against Wadena became an opportunity to start out strong with a good lead and finish. I told them that they had to do that, and they did it. They lost the second set because they began to play too carefully, not hitting the ball hard and smart.”
Knight said during the final match of the tournament, the team produced its highest level of play of the entire season.
“The girls demonstrated that our serving is a force to be reckoned with. They truly showed their highest potential and proved that they can play high-calibre senior girls volleyball. The rallies that we played consisted of multiple hits and digs spread across all three hitting zones at the net.”
The Cougars had good success at tournaments prior to the CCS tournament, said Knight.
“Our season started very quickly with a tournament in Creighton. This was an excellent opportunity to determine positioning, and to see what the Grade 10 girls were capable of. During one match, I played all six Grade 10 girls and they won the second set.”
The Cougars competed at the 16-team Christian Schools Invitational tournament in Regina, hosted by Harvest City. The team placed first in the first round of pool play, and finished sixth overall.
Knight said the girls played an excellent tournament in Norquay, finishing second after a loss to Churchbridge in the final match.
The Cougars girls team hosted its conference tournament on November 3-4 at CCS.
