Moose Jaw volleyball teams just keep finding ways to bring home medals, and this time they’ve done it on a national level.
The Golden Ticket Volleyball Club picked up a gold medal in Tier 11 at Volleyball Canada 14U girls nationals in Winnipeg, while the Thunder Creek Volleyball club landed silver in Tier 12 at the 16U girls Canadian championships in Calgary.
The Thunder Creek medal was especially impressive given the size of the tournament -- with a total of 208 teams from all over Canada taking part in the event, they were able to finish in the top half of the field at 90th overall.
“It’s pretty amazing,” said TCVC coach Lorne Polupski. “We never set our goals too high and just want to play the best we can play and whatever happens happens. And now it’s last year gold, this year silver, we’re pretty happy with that.”
Thunder Creek got things started with a 2-1 record in Pool B of Tier 13-16, and if not for a loss in their opening game could have found themselves playing at a much higher level as the tournament progressed.
“Even in one-day tournaments, we seemed to play our worst matches in the morning and seemed to warm up by the end of the day,” Polupski said. “We’ve had four golds and four silvers at tournaments this year, and all our afternoons have been great. So I don’t know what it is, but we sure warm up and play better as the day goes on.”
The TCVC then moved into the Tier 13-16 Power Pool for their second round robin and finished tied for first, vaulting them into the Tier 12 playoffs.
There, they took a 25-19, 12-25, 15-11 win over Predators 16U from Manitoba before advancing to the final with a two-set win over Bedford Black from Nova Scotia. That sent Thunder Creek into the Tier 12 gold medal game, where they’d lose a heartbreaker in three sets.
“We were right there, but unfortunately there were a couple of missed serves and we’re bringing home a silver medal,” Polupski said. “But the teams there were really good, the kind of competition you’d expect to see at nationals, and we’re still really happy to win silver.”
The Golden Ticket Volleyball Club was also in action at 16U nationals and went unbeaten in their Tier 21-24 round robin with a 3-0 record, moving up to the Tier 17-20 power pool as a result.
There, they’d post a 2-1 record and move into the Tier 20 playoffs, where they lost a two-set quarter-final war 28-26, 29-27 to the Airdrie, Alta. Hawks.
Golden Ticket saw a much happier result in Winnipeg, though, as their 14U girls brought home the shiniest medal of all from the 88-team tournament.
It all started with the Tier 6 round robin, where Golden Ticket would win their opener before finishing with a 1-2 record. They moved into the Tier 6 Power Pool and went 2-1, sending themselves into the Tier 11 playoffs.
It was nothing but winning from there.
Golden Ticket defeated Manitoba’s Vision Elite 25-18, 25-22 in the quarter-final before sweeping Brandon Volleyball Club in the semifinal. That sent them to the Tier 11 gold medal game, where they’d take a three-set win over Manitoba’s WinMan Tide.
There’s no rest for either club, as they’ll both have teams competing at the Volleyball Canada 15U Championship in Regina. Be sure to check back for results from that event!
