St. Paul Sr. Volleyball teams win home tournament

It was another great weekend of high school volleyball in the Lakeland. This weekend St. Paul was the stop for many local Lakeland schools. St. Paul Regional High School, who hosted the tournament, won both the boys and girls sides. This year was the 16th annual edition of the Tazmania Tournament.

Girls side

The St. Paul Regional Sr. Girls faced Notre Dame in the quarter finals, and then Holy Rosary in the semis. Vegreville Composite was their opponent in the final. They would go on to win the game in nail-biting fashion. The final set came to a final score of 17-15. It was so close it could have gone either way. The St. Paul Sr. Girls celebrated the gold medal when the dust had settled. The girls side is coached by Hank Smid, who also organized the tournament.

“Both teams performed well, and both teams were aggressive. It was a fun match to be a part of that’s for sure.” Coach Hank Smid says.

Boys side

The St. Paul Regional Sr. Boys matched up against F.G. Miller from Elk Point in their final. F.G. Miller is making waves after finishing second in the Roadrunner Tournament. The St. Paul Sr. Boys  managed to hang on, and take the gold medal.

Tournament as a whole

The tournament is designed that the top two teams from each pool advance to the medal rounds. Both the top two, and bottom two are put into separate Oregon draws to finish the tournament. The draw ensures a more competitive balance in the playoff sides.

“I think we were all really happy with the tournament. We had 32 teams together, 16 boys teams, and 16 girls teams. On Friday, we were running eight courts to get through our round robin. We went to four gyms main court on Saturday. It’s always nice to play main court early in the season. The weather turned out nice for the weekend. The caliber of teams, we tried to bring in some 3A schools, and filled the rest with local 1A and 2A teams.” Organizer Hank Smid explains.

Next week (or the week after)

Volleyball teams in the Lakeland will have a turkey filled schedule next weekend. The week after they will return to action. The St. Paul Regional High School Sr. teams are heading to Barrhead after Thanksgiving to compete. It’s a stop that has become a staple on the calendar each year.