Playoff set in high school volleyball
The Vanier Vikings and Peacock Toilers clinched first place in the regular-season high school volleyball standings on Tuesday night, November 2nd and with the playoffs on the horizon, both did so in comfortable fashion. The Vikings finished with a perfect 9-0 record and didn’t drop more than a single set after their opening-night fivegame bruiser with the Avonlea Eagles. They closed out the season in style against Cornerstone Christian School, who with a win would have moved into second place all alone. Instead, Vanier would roll to a 3-0 (25-19, 25-17, 27-25) victory, pushing the Falcons into a 5-4 logjam that saw them in fourth place once tiebreakers were applied. The Eagles, meanwhile, had held down second place much of the season and it was there that they’d finish after a 3-0 (25-22, 25-21, 25-23) victory over the Central Cyclones. Both teams finished 5-4 with the result, with Central landing in third place.
The other contest on the night had no playoff implications but was important nonetheless as the Peacock Toilers picked up their first win and finished 1-7 with a 3-0 (25-21, 25-12, 25-22) victory over the Riverview/Mortlach Royals (0-8).
In girls play, the Toilers’ steady progression through the season saw them defeat defending champion Vanier in early October before closing out their campaign with a 3-0 (25-20, 25-19, 25-12) win over Central (1-7).
The Spirits, meanwhile, kept pace and also finished at 7-1 with a 3-1 (25-15, 16-25, 25-17, 25-13) win over Briercrest Christian Academy (4-4). The tiebreaker gave first place to the Toilers.
That sets the stage for the post season beginning Tuesday with the quarter-finals.
Action gets underway at 6:20 p.m. in girls play with Cornerstone (4) at Central (5) before the slate of boys games takes centre stage at 8 p.m. as Avonlea (2) takes on Riverview / Mortlach (7), Peacock (6) is at Central (3) and Briercrest Christian (5) is at Cornerstone (4). Playoffs continue Thursday as the girls quarter-final winner faces Peacock and Briercrest duels Vanier in the other semifinal, while in boys action the lowest remaining seed battles Vanier and the two remaining quarter-final teams play in the other semifinal.