Defending champs back in finals

Axemen, Bobcats, Torchettes, Colonels to play for PEISAA senior AAA gold medals

The defending P.E.I. School Athletic Association senior AAA volleyball champions have put themselves in a position to repeat.

The Kensington Torchettes and Three Oaks Axemen pulled out hard-fought semifinal wins on Wednesday night to secure berths in the gold-medal matches as part of the Grant Thornton-sponsored provincial championships at Charlottetown Rural High School on Saturday.

The Torchettes will take on the Colonel Gray Colonels in the girls’ final at 2 p.m., while the Axemen will battle the Bluefield Team One Bobcats for the boys’ title at 4 p.m.

The top-seeded Axemen, who posted a perfect regularseason record of 10-0 (won-lost), rallied for a 3-1 victory over longtime rival Westisle Wolverines (3-7). After Westisle won the first set 25-23 and led 21-16 in the second set, clutch serving by Jack Somers keyed the Axemen’s rally to a 25-22 win to even the match.

Three Oaks jumped out to an 8-1 lead in the third set, but this time the Wolverines refused to quit and battled their way back into the set, before the Axemen prevailed 28-26. Three Oaks then closed out the match winning the fourth set 25-11.

In the other boys’ semifinal at Bluefield, the second-place Bobcats (8-2) prevailed in five sets. Bluefield won 25-17, 25-22 to jump out to a 2-0 lead, but third-place Rural (6-4) answered back with set wins of 25-20, 25-23 to send the match to the limit. Bluefield took Set 5 by a 15-9 count.

In the quarter-finals played Monday, Westisle posted a 3-1 victory (25-16, 25-20, 16-25, 2519) over Colonel Gray while Rural defeated Montague 3-1 (25-11, 2510, 23-25, 25-19).

Girls

In the girls’ semifinals, the Torchettes and Raiders played a nail-biting five-set thriller at Charlottetown Rural.

Kensington posted solid 25-11, 25-17 victories in the first two sets,

but the Raiders answered back to stave off elimination with 25-20, 25-23 wins in the third and fourth sets. The fifth and deciding set went right down to the wire as the Torchettes prevailed 15-13 for a 3-2 win. At Colonel Gray High School, the host Colonels defeated the Bluefield Team One Bobcats 3-0 (25-17, 26-24, 25-18).

To illustrate just how close

the senior AAA girls’ league is this year, the Colonels, Raiders and Torchettes finished in a three-way tie for first place with records of 10-2 (won-lost). Tiebreaking procedures resulted in the Colonels being awarded first place, the Raiders second and Torchettes third. Bluefield Team One and Three Oaks Team One tied for fourth at 5-7. In Monday’s quarter-finals, host Bluefield edged Three Oaks 3-2 (25-18, 21-25, 21-25, 25-15, 15-4) while Kensington swept visiting Westisle Team One 3-0 (2520, 25-14, 25-18).

Also Saturday at Charlottetown Rural, Bluefield Team One and Charlottetown Rural Team One will decide the girls’ bronze-medal match at 10 a.m., and the Wolverines and Charlottetown Rural will meet in the boys’ third-place match at noon.

JASON SIMMONDS/JOURNAL PIONEER Tyler MacDonald, 5, of the Three Oaks Axemen attempts to spike the ball while the Westisle Wolverines’ Chandler Buote, 11, and Emmett Gaudette attempt to make the block at the net during a P.E.I. School Athletic Association Senior AAA Boys Volleyball League semifinal match Wednesday evening. Also ready to support their teammates are the Axemen’s Justin Caron, 9, and Thomas Rennie, 6, of the Wolverines as official Jeff Hirtle follows the play. The Axemen won the match, played at the Three Oaks Senior High School gymnasium, 3-1 to advance to Saturday’s gold-medal match at Charlottetown Rural High School.

JASON SIMMONDS/JOURNAL PIONEER Emmett Gaudette of the Westisle Wolverines sets the ball while teammate Chandler Buote, 11, follows the play. The Wolverines visited the Three Oaks Axemen for a semifinal match in the P.E.I. School Athletic Association Senior AAA Boys Volleyball League. Three Oaks won the contest 3-1.

JASON SIMMONDS/JOURNAL PIONEER The Westisle Wolverines’ Carter Cahill, 9, and Lucas Gallant, 10, attempt to block a spike attempt by the Three Oaks Axemen’s Ben MacDougall on Wednesday night. Westisle’s Thomas Rennie, 6, and Isaac Oliver position themselves to play the ball. The Axemen won the P.E.I. School Athletic Association Senior AAA Boys Volleyball League semifinal match 3-1.