École Mallaig School earned two SPAA volleyball banners this week with both the senior boys and girls Stingers edging out the Regional Saints in hard-fought games to take home the championships on Wednesday night in St. Paul.
Neither Mallaig side had an easy task in taking down their rivals, as they both were left in a hole after losing the first set.
The boys team came back hard in their second set, winning 25-17 to force a tiebreaker. Both teams regrouped and took to the court for the final chapter. Regional came out strong, grabbing a lead that they managed to hold onto until Mallaig closed the gap at 14-14, and took the first lead of the tiebreaker at championship point, 15-14.
St Paul wasn’t ready to let it slip away however, and the back and forth affair continued until Mallaig finally drove the final ball to the floor at 21-19, clinching their third straight seniors boys’ SPAA volleyball banner.
The girls team was staring down defeat in the final stages of the second set, up against a St. Paul Regional championship point at 24-23, but the Stingers held their resolve and managed to force a tiebreaker. The Stingers carried the momentum gained in the second set into the tiebreaker and took a strong lead over the Saints early, holding on for a 15-9 win to take the SPAA championship banner.
The pair of victories came at a highly opportune time for the Stingers, who will be hosting the 1A zone championships for boys this weekend at École Mallaig School. See next week’s Journal for more coverage of zones volleyball.
