Although the number 13 may be unlucky to some, for the St. Paul Saints Regional High School girls’ volleyball team, the 13th annual Tazmania volleyball tournament in St. Paul was anything but, as the team was crowned champions of the tournament.
The annual Tazmania volleyball tournament was hosted throughout St. Paul on Sept. 26 and 27, with teams playing on a variety of courts in schools across town.
A total of 32 teams travelled to the area for the competition. Fort McMurray, Lloydminster, and Edmonton were just a few of the areas represented during the exciting weekend of volleyball action.
“This is a huge event for our school,” said Hank Smid, athletic director at the Regional High School and one of the event organizers. “It’s probably one of the biggest events we have . . . besides hosting, say, a provincial championship.”
A number of venues were used throughout the competition, including the Regional, Racette, Glen Avon, and Old Sommet gyms.
“We have support from the different schools in town,” Smid said. “Between the different athletic directors and the different coaches in town, we really work together, and this tournament is no different.”
Teams were first divided into a number of different pools. After the first round of play, each pool sent their top two teams to the championship side, and their bottom two teams to the consolation side.
“The teams are excited about that,” Smid said about the tournament’s format. “They get to play some teams that are equal to them.”
After the final round was complete, the team from Westwood won the championship on the boys’ side. The St. Paul Regional boys’ team, after being placed in the consolation bracket due to a tiebreaker, ended up winning the consolation championship.
On the girls’ side of the tournament, the host team from St. Paul ended up besting the competition and prevailing as tournament champions.
Smid, who also serves as the head coach of the girls’ team, was pleased with the result.
“I’m very excited for the girls,” he said. “They worked hard. They’ve been practicing hard . . . and I think their hard work paid off.”
They met up with a tough opponent from St. Jerome’s in the semi-final match of the tournament.
“They came on strong. There were quite a few people in the gym, and it was awesome to see all that support, and I think that was a little nerve racking for the girls at first. After they got midway through that first set, they kind of got into their own routine again and started playing like they can,” Smid said.
It took a third, tiebreaking set for the host team to make it to the final, where they met up with the Notre Dame Wildcats. After a decisive two sets in the championship round, the Regional team came out on top as tournament champs.
“This was one goal that they talked about at the start of the season,” Smid said of his team, who also won the tournament last year. “They accomplished it, so they should feel really good about that.”
