The Barrhead Senior Girls Jaguars qualified to enter into the provincial zone-qualifying tournament after finishing near the top of the standings during the Divisional Championships in Westlock on Nov. 3.
Kevin Geinger, Senior Jaguars Boys coach, said the girls had a strong tournament, despite coming up short in the gold medal game.
“They played really well and ended up finishing first in their pool,” he said.
Unfortunately, at about the half way mark of the tournament Barrhead lost one of their stronger players to injury.
“When you are playing against teams that are as good as the ones in our division the loss of a player like that is hard to overcome,” Geinger said. “But they did and managed to get into the finals and playing strong volleyball all the way.”
As for the boy’s team, which he coaches, the Jags were not quite as fortunate.
Although they too had a strong tournament, the Jaguars finished in fourth place, losing to Neerlandia in the bronze medal game.
“We didn’t play our best at the divisions,” he said, adding by and large the team played well except for one game. “I’m not sure what it is but we just couldn’t find our consistency,” Geinger said.
This is despite having a strong season and placing well in a number of city tournaments (for example the Jags finished fifth out of 16 teams in St. Albert and third out of 16 teams in Spruce Grove).
In the round robin portion, the Barrhead boys finished in second place in their pool with a 2-1 record.
The Jags then won their first crossover game before meeting the Neerlandia Eagles in the semi-finals.
“Neerlandia is one of the powerhouse teams,” he said, adding while they played a strong game they just couldn’t match the Eagles, losing in two sets 25-17 and 25 -19. “I was really proud of the boys on how they played Neerlandia.”
However, for whatever reason, Geinger said the team couldn’t match their intensity in their next game, a bronze medal matchup against St. Mary’s.
“When we are at our best and come out all pistons firing, we can play very, very well and compete with all teams, even ones who are much bigger than us,” he said. “Then there are times, luckily very few, the bronze medal game being one of them, when we come out with low energy and don’t move our feet. But overall this year I am very proud of the boys. They were a great group of kids and besides from one game we had a very successful year.”
As a result they still have a chance to qualify for zones as a wildcard entry.
