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P.A. clubs ready for volleyball provincials

Nov 17, 2011 | 4:17 PM

With the 5A Senior Boys Volleyball Provincials held here in Prince Albert and the fact that both Carlton and St. Mary’s are fielding teams, there is a good chance one of those two could keep the provincial title here in the city.

The St. Mary Marauders themselves will have a chance as good as any, finishing first place in the North Regional tournament, losing just one set throughout the weekend.

But Marauders head coach Dale Regel said that all of the teams in the tournament, like the Marauders themselves, have had great seasons and it’s important to remember that.

“I think the keyword for us is: respect. Respect we play against,” said Regel.

“There’s a lot of parity this year in the province, and no matter who it is, I think if you fall asleep, someone can beat you… We’ve seen all of the teams in our pool and I don’t think they are any easy games.”

The Marauders are in a pool with four tough teams, Weyburn, Saskatoon St. Joseph, Regina Balfour and Estevan.

The Crusaders are also in tough, with the top-ranked Regina Campbell in their pool, North Battleford, Yorkton and Saskatoon Mahoney.

“Our pool is going to have a wealth of experience and things we have to prepare for, but I believe in my kids, I believe that they want to work hard,” said Crusaders head coach Jeff Court. “We have kids that match up well with all of those teams so that’s where things are at.”

According to Court, being one of the hosting sites has been more exciting than pressure building.

“Our organizing committee has worked extremely hard to get everything in place and we’ve got a number of kids involved in hosting this event,” said Court. “Our team’s really excited about playing…

It’s just a fun atmosphere around here right now, to be hosting an event of this magnitude at our school.”

Although it won’t be in the confines on their own gym, the Marauders are excited that they won’t have to travel and stay in a hotel.

“I think no matter where you play, you have to play well but it’s nice the guys get to sleep in their own beds, have a (home cooked) meal at night and in the morning, it’s an added advantage,” said Regel.

“I know we’re going to have a lot of support from fans and hopefully we can play well for them.”

The Crusaders play all their Friday pool games at Carlton, at 1 p.m., 3:15 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.. They will play their final group game Saturday at SIAST at 10 a.m.

The Marauders will spent their Friday at the SIAST campus, playing at 2 p.m., 4:15 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.

They will play their last group game at Carlton at 9 a.m.

Both medal games will be held at Carlton as well, with the bronze medal game at 4:30 p.m. and the gold medal game at 5:30 p.m.

Carlton will have a live video stream up during the tournament on the school’s website. The games can be viewed here.

jdandrea@panow.com