By Kathy Gallant

Jonas volleyball teams win top spots at divisionals

Oct 31, 2017 | 5:00 PM

Both the boys and girls A side volleyball teams from Jonas Samson Junior High exemplified the gold part of their school colours this past weekend as they each won division titles in Onion Lake.

The Stingers squads were up against a number of teams from across the region at this tournament. It’s been a busy yet successful season for the teams according to their coaches.

Jane McLaughlin, the boys’ team coach, said the team is filled with dedicated and intelligent players.  Out of eight tournaments since the beginning of the school year, the team won silver at two, with the rest being gold.

“They were a very strong team this year,” she said. “We had a great setter in Jake Willick, and we had a couple of weapons like Kade Anderson who was middle, Mathieu Rodrigue in right side, and Quinton Desjarlais in left side. They were our power hitters.”

Willick said the Onion Lake tournament was a high energy event, and was thankful to play for a winning group this year.

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“Overall we played good and talked and communicated,” he said. “We got to put up a banner, and it’ll always be in the gym. It’s a good group of guys.”

The girls had silver medals so far this season, so winning gold at the final tournament meant a great deal to them. Setter Avery Pearson attributed the team’s success to their connections as both friends and teammates.

“We’re all very close and we show that on the court, Pearson said. “We know what we all have to do to succeed.”

Winning at regionals qualified the girls’ squad for the high school girls’ 4A conference final, where they will meet with five teams back in Onion Lake this weekend. If they place in the top three at this event, they will move on to high school regionals and have the chance to go to provincials.

Coach Chris Ellis said the team is anticipating playing against high-school calibre teams.

“It’s a bit of a step up,” he said. “It’s kind of nice for Grade 9 girls to play at that level.”

Left side Emily Lehoux said the team is looking forward to the challenge.

“I feel like when we play higher level teams, we’re a lot better, up to our full ability,” she said.
 

kathy.gallant@jpbg.ca  

On Twitter @ReporterKath