HUMBOLDT — The Humboldt Collegiate Institute senior boys volleyball team finished in seventh place at its home tournament.
HCI beat Muenster School in three games to earn its placing at the Humboldt Collegiate Institute Invitational Tournament. The team finished, tied with Englefeld, for third in its pool. It had scored three fewer points in total in round robin play so HCI lost the tiebreaker to make it to the top six.
“I was most pleased with our team's resilience, heart, and ability to bounce back and make adjustments after tough losses to take some tight games,” head coach Braeden Ager said. “They never gave up on a single game and were able to compete with some very tough competition and adapt to anything that was thrown at them.”
North Battleford’s John Paul II Collegiate won the tournament. Ager would expect that team to be competing for gold at provincials.
“The tournament, as a whole, had very strong competition with a lot of teams that we expect to make provincials in their respective school sizes, and a few that we will meet at regionals (such as Nipawin) or at 4A provincials (JP II, E.D. Feehan Catholic High School of Saskatoon). There were a lot of great matches and we got a ton of community support and fans out to the games.”
Ager emphasized his appreciation for the fans who came out, the referees for officiating some great games, everyone who helped organize the event, and his players’ parents for running the canteen and supporting the team.
“It was great to see all of this after a year off due to COVID and we look forward to hosting this tournament again next year,” Ager said.
HCI Senior Girls
The HCI senior girls volleyball team placed fourth out of 12 teams last weekend in a Melfort tournament. The squad fell in the bronze medal game to Meadow Lake.
“We had a lot of great games this weekend. We struggled at times, which will happen,” coach Jarrod Regush said. “We battled the best we could given our circumstances. We are now looking forward to regionals.”
The regionals will be hosted in La Ronge this coming weekend.
“The girls are excited for the high level of competition regionals brings,” Regush said. “Throughout the year at the many tournaments we go to there are often some stronger and some weaker teams. It will be awesome to have a challenge to face at every game.”
Senior Girls Conference
In 1A conference play last weekend in Cudworth, Annaheim was 4-0. Muenster was 3-1. Playing in LeRoy, Rose Valley went 4-0. LeRoy was 3-1.
Regionals will be held Nov. 12-13. The draws were released Monday, after the Journal’s deadline. Senior boys conference play is this coming weekend.
District Playoffs
Muenster School hosts the Horizon Central Athletic Association Junior Boys District Championship on Tuesday. Humboldt Collegiate Institute is also competing there.
For the Junior “B” Boys District Championships, Quill Lake and Humboldt Public School were slated to play on Monday in the semifinals. The winner will take on Humboldt’s St. Augustine for the district championship.
Lake Lenore School Girls earn soccer silver medals
With positive attitudes and hard work, the Lake Lenore School senior girls soccer team won the silver medals at the 3A provincial tournament.
On Oct. 30, the Lancers fell in the provincial finals to Osler’s Valley Christian Academy, 3-1, in Duck Lake. The day before the Lake Lenore School squad earned its spot in the finals with a 4-2 victory over Waldheim.
“They worked hard as a team and really came out to play their hardest,” coach Petra Hogemann said of her team’s performance at provincials. “They had a great, positive attitude for the whole weekend.”
The silver medals from provincials were a fitting end to a successful soccer season. The Lancers beat Humboldt Collegiate Institute in both games of the Horizon School Division League finals. Lake Lenore was 3-0 in regular season league play. At regionals, the team beat Rosthern Junior College, 4-0, before losing to VCA, 2-1.
“They improved so much with each game,” Hogemann said of the Lancers. “They worked together to improve individually and as a team. They displayed great sportsmanship at all times, which is always great to see.”
This season the Lancers were a successful co-op squad. They include seven players from Lake Lenore School and a quartet from Three Lakes School.
