Francois Buote wins senior A title
Evangeline prevails in bronze-medal match
Parity was the word of the day Saturday at the Prince Edward Island School Athletic Association senior A girls volleyball championship.
Three of the four matches played at Kinkora Regional High School required a fifth and deciding set, and the championship match went four hardfought sets. When all was said and done, the Francois Buote Jaguars were presented with the championship banner after defeating the Charlottetown Rural Raiders in the gold-medal match 3-1 (18-25, 25-16, 25-19, 25-15).
“The girls arrived ready (for the final),” said Francois Buote head coach Maxime Duguay. “We lost the first set, but I told the girls you need three to win. They rallied, fought very hard and really hit the kill shots in the last set.”
Earlier Saturday, both the Jaguars and Raiders were pushed to the limit in their respective semifinals. Rural prevailed over the Evangeline Coyotes 25-14, 25-18, 20-25, 19-25, 15-11 while the Jaguars outlasted Grace Christian in a marathon match – 22-25, 25-21, 25-16, 22-25, 20-18.
“The first match was nerveracking,” admitted Duguay. “It was intense.
“We knew Grace Christian was going to be tough to beat because we played them during the year, and they were getting better and better. We didn’t expect them to be that strong, but we managed to get a win.”
In the bronze-medal match, Evangeline overcame a 10-5 deficit in the fifth set to edge Grace Christian 3-2. Scores were 25-15, 20-25, 19-25, 25-18, 15-12.
A key point in the final came late in the third set, when the Jaguars won the point on a long rally to take a 19-17 lead en route building a 2-1 lead.
Duguay said the Jaguars were able to play a strong “power” match against the Raiders.
“The girls had awesome serves with a lot of punch, battled for
every ball and we didn’t give up,” said Duguay.
Grade 11 Jessica Turbide, who plays the power position for the Jaguars, was selected the MVP of the championship.
“It was a total team effort,” emphasized Duguay, who proudly added Francois Buote is building a volleyball tradition at the Charlottetown-based school.
“We have a great volleyball culture in our school,” he added.
With the Jaguars only graduating three players this year – Jenkins, centre Ariane Bélanger and power Miryam Palowska – Duguay feels the potential is there for Francois Buote to be right in the thick of things next year as well.
“The core of the group is staying, and we may get some good players from the intermediates,” said Duguay.
“We are going to be strong next year as well.”