High school volleyball playoffs underway

Vanguard placed first in their 1A Girls Volleyball conference playdowns. SUBMITTED PHOTO

The girls league championship took place in Frontier. #1 Frontier defeated #4 Herbert in the semi-final and #3 Shaunavon beat #2 Vanguard in the second semi-final. Herbert and Vanguard played in the third place match with Vanguard taking home the win. That left Frontier and Shaunavon to battle for the league championship. This was a great battle between the top two teams in the league. In the end, Shaunavon beat hometown Frontier (2-0) to claim the league title.

The consolation playoffs in Consul were postponed due to unforeseen circumstances. The three-team round robin will now take place Tuesday, November 5 in Consul. Teams participating are #5 Consul, #6 Maple Creek, and #7 Gull Lake.

The boys league championship took place in Cabri. #1 Cabri beat #4 Ponteix and #2 Consul beat #3 Frontier in the semi-finals. Frontier won the third place match against Ponteix. The two top boys teams, Cabri and Consul, battled for the SWAC championship. Hometown Cabri were crowned league champions when they beat Consul (2-0) in the final.

Congratulations to Shaunavon girls and Cabri boys on being SWAC Volleyball League champions for 2024.

Junior District Volleyball championships took place on Saturday. All Saints hosted the SWAC boys district championship (commissioner Casey Yeomans). The qualifying teams (Cabri, Irwin, Consul, Frontier, Leader, All Saints) were put into two pools of three. Cabri won their pool and beat Consul in one cross over semi-final and Irwin School, first in their pool, beat All Saints in the second semi-final. The Cabri boys team went on to win the district championship (2-0) over Irwin. This was Cabri’s third time in the SWAC junior district final, and their first win. The Cabri boys were undefeated in every tournament and match they played this year with a 29-0 record.

Shaunavon hosted the SWAC girls district championship (commissioners Chris Cragg and Carmen Stevenson). Participating teams were Shaunavon, Eastend, Ecole Centennial, Hodgeville, Leader and Fox Valley). Ecole finished first in their pool and defeated Shaunavon in the semi-final. Leader was first in their pool, but lost to Eastend in the other semifinal. Eastend and Ecole Centennial had battled earlier in the day during pool play, and met up again in the final. Ecole Centennial won the title with a 2-0 win over Eastend in the championship match. This is the fourth year in a row that Ecole Centennial has won the district championship.

SHSAA Senior Girls Conference Volleyball took place on Saturday, November 2. The 1A, 2A and 3A designations are determined by total enrollment (boys and girls) in grade 10-12 in their schools. Thanks to our commissioners of SWAC hosted conference tournaments – Geraldine Ham (Frontier), Lana Marshall (Leader), and Rob Englot (Hodgeville).

In 1A girls (Frontier site), after five-team round robin play, Consul had a record of 0-4, Hazlet was 1-3 and Cabri was 2-2. Those teams were eliminated from the tournament. Frontier finished with a 3-1 record, good enough for second place overall and Fox Valley was undefeated and placed first with a perfect 4-0 record.

At the 1A Hodgeville girls site, Vanguard, Ponteix, and Kincaid were all tied for top spot in the five-team round robin with identical 3-1 records. After the tie break was applied, Vanguard came out on top and Ponteix was eliminated.

1A girls teams, Fox Valley, Frontier, and Vanguard, all advance to the six-team 1A West Regional tournament, hosted by Fox Valley on Friday, November 8. The top two teams there advance to SHSAA provincials.

2A Leader hosted a conference girls playoff that also included Herbert and Gull Lake. The six participating teams were put into two pools of three, with cross over semi-finals before the final. Herbert lost both pool games and was eliminated. Leader and Gull Lake were in the same pool due to rankings. Gull Lake won both pool games and Leader finished second with a record of 1-1. In the semi-final pool cross over, Gull Lake lost a heartbreaking match to Plenty (2-1) and was eliminated. Leader defeated Elrose, the top team in the other pool, and advanced to the conference championship against Plenty. Leader lost the final match, but advanced to the Regional West tournament as the #2 seed. The Leader girls will be headed to Saskatoon for their Regional playoffs.

3A Shaunavon and Maple Creek were in Moose Jaw for their conference playoff. Both teams finished second in their pools with one win and one loss. They battled hard in the semi-finals, but Maple Creek lost to eventual champion Briercrest Academy and Shaunavon lost to Assiniboia. Both teams saw their seasons come to an end.

The 5A SCCHS Ardens and Colts will also be at Regional volleyball tournaments this weekend. The Colts will play in the South Regional in Moose Jaw and the Ardens will be in Yorkton. Both Swift Current squads are among the top ranked teams in the province going into the SHSAA Provincial playoffs.

Senior Boys Volleyball Conferences- Friday, Nov 8.
1A Consul will host Fox Valley, Cabri, Frontier, Marengo.
2A Herbert will host Kincaid, Gravelbourg, Coronach, Ponteix.
2A Leader will play in the WestCentral district for their playoff and 3A Shaunavon will be in the SouthCentral district for conference playoffs.

Start Dates for Winter Activities
The SWAC/SHSAA curling season officially starts on Monday, November 4. Doubles curling is now an SHSAA medal sport. SWAC will be offering a “learn to play doubles’ clinic in the next few weeks for our grade 9-12 teams.

Wrestling and Basketball seasons begin on November 18. There will be a SWAC senior and junior basketball league organized for schools. SWAC is also going to bring in 3 vs 3 basketball this season. Anyone who watched 3 vs 3 during the Summer Olympics knows what an exciting sport it can be. SWAC is hoping schools take advantage of this opportunity to introduce the sport to their students.

The Chinook School Division Sports Report is submitted by Val Gordon