Most Valuable Player Award: #11- Maxime Vermette (Gabrielle-Roy Les Roys)
Players’ Choice Award (selected by participating teams): #11 – Tanner Manning (Morris / St.Jean Baptiste)
Collège régional Gabrielle-Roy
École secondaire Neelin High School
AWARDS
GIRLS TOURNAMENT MVP: Tyra Lasiuk – Neelin High School
CHAMPIONSHIP ALL-STARS: Tristyn Hanneson – Dauphin Clippers; Julia Martens – Westgate Wings; Ashra Reimer – Linden Christian Wings; Raya Suderman – Linden Christian Wings; Kruz Wilson – Neelin Spartans; Anne Gravelle – Neelin Spartans
DAIRY FARMERS OF MANITOBA PLAYERS’ CHOICE AWARD: Mia Dulaquis – Balmoral Hall
École secondaire Neelin High School
BOYS TOURNAMENT MVP: Nathaniel Berube – Neelin High School
CHAMPIONSHIP ALL-STARS: Samuel Anderson – Linden Christian Wings; Hayden Poegelt – College Louis-Riel; Kingston Thomas – Neelin High School; Kal-El Wilson – Neelin High School; Corey Brandt – Steinbach Christian School; Lukas Klassen – Steinbach Christian School
DAIRY FARMERS OF MANITOBA PLAYERS’ CHOICE AWARD: Jesse Vandenberg – Garden Valley Collegiate
MHSAA 2023 VOLLEYBALL PARTIICIPANTS
GIRLS
BOYS
A
Deloraine School
Elm Creek School
Glenboro School
Glenboro School
Baldur School/Cartwright Community Independent School (Co-Op)
Hamiota Collegiate Institute
Reston School
Frontier Mosakahiken School
Fisher River High School
Wawanesa School
Hamiota Collegiate Institute
Treherne Collegiate Institute
Gilbert Plains Collegiate Institute
Alonsa School/McCreary (SchoolCo-Op)
Frontier Misakahiken School
École Pointe-des-Chênes
Rivers Collegiate Institute
Fisher River High School
Grandview School
Baldur School/Cartwright Community Independent School (Co-Op)
AA
Major Pratt School
Carberry Collegiate Institute
Collège régional Gabrielle-Roy
MacGregor Collegiate Institute
Hapnot Collegiate Institute
Collège régional Gabrielle-Roy
St Paul’s Collegiate Institute (Elie)
Hapnot Collegiate Institute
Rosenort School
Rosenort School
Elton Collegiate Institute
Elton Collegiate Institute
Warren Collegiate Institute
Landmark Collegiate Institute
Prairie Mountain High School
Major Pratt School/ École St Lazare (Co-Op)
Green Valley School
Morris School/ École régionale St Jean Baptiste (Co-Op)
Lac du Bonnet Senior School
Boissevain School
AAA
Calvin Christian Collegiate Institute
Steinbach Christian School
Collège Stonewall Collegiate
Dauphin Regional Comprehensive Secondary School
Niverville High School
Garden Valley Collegiate Institute
Dauphin Regional Comprehensive Secondary School
Linden Christian School
Westgate Mennonite Collegiate Institute
École secondaire Neelin High School
Linden Christian School
Collège Louis-Riel
École secondaire Neelin High School
Collège Stonewall Collegiate
W C Miller Collegiate Institute
Springfield Collegiate Institute
Churchill High School
R D Park Collegiate Institute
R D Park Collegiate Institute
Neelin rallies incredibly to reach, win final
Spartans claim double gold at AAA provincials
By: Thomas Friesen
Jada McMillan stepped back to the service line with everything — or nothing — to lose.
Down 24-18, her Neelin Spartans needed a miracle or the best string of points they could play or their season would end with a bronze-medal match. The Spartans rallied and stole the set, then the third, then breezed through the provincial AAA varsity girls championship match, beating the Linden Christian Wings 25-19, 25-15 in Dauphin on Saturday.
“There was a point where I just thought ‘OK, I guess this is kind of it.’ Once we got rolling, I honestly felt like I became a cheerleader, tried to stay positive for them,” said Spartans head coach Lana Dubois
“Kruz (Wilson) was diving, everyone was getting ups we would not typically get. Nothing was hitting the floor and I feel like I blacked out.
“It was honestly the most crazy thing when you watch kids come back. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced that in my life in sports.”
The Spartans didn’t start the week strong, going 1-2 in the top power pool and finished third. They got past the Sanford Sabres 25-23, 25-16, then met the Westgate Wings in what was originally the top two teams in the 12-team field.
Westgate won the first set 25-22, then led 22-13 before the Spartans started their improbable rally. It included, Dubois said, eight straight points by Maci Hlady at the net and an entire Neelin team that simply refused to go down.
They fought off five set points to tie it 24-24, then lost one and scored three more to force a third, which they won 15-10.
“It was actually the most insane thing I’ve ever experienced,” Dubois said, adding the team carried that energy through to the final.
“(Linden Christian’s) a great team, they were a really good team but at that point we realized how much we persevered in that (semifinal). We … had like two missed serves the entire match and everyone was just going.
“Everything was going for us.”
Neelin setter Tyra Lasuik was named tournament MVP, while left side Anne Gravelle and Wilson made the all-star team.
Dauphin beat Westgate 17-25, 25-22, 15-13 for bronze.
“It’s a great day to be a Spartan,” Dubois said.
NEELIN BOYS DOMINATE
That sentiment rang true for the Neelin boys, who dropped just one set all weekend en route to gold.
“It is so awesome. It’s an amazing feeling. These kids worked so hard, they practise so much, all the hard work came to fruition,” said head coach Jill Martine.
“Every team gave us a run, the boys just came to play.”
Neelin cruised through pool play, only letting two of six sets hit 20-plus points allowed. They got the No. 1 seed for the playoffs and blitzed Niverville 25-18, 25-16 before their lone snag of the weekend.
Louis-Riel took the first set of their semifinal but Neelin replied with two dominant ones, winning 18-25, 25-17, 15-9 to reach a final against Steinbach Christian.
The Spartans took that one 25-18, 25-22.
“We all were locked in, we were there to win and very much in control,” Martine said.
Neelin had an overflow of players who could have started on medallists in this event, which ultimately made the lineup that capped the season with a banner that much stronger.
Grade 11 left side Kal-El Wilson and libero Kingston Thomas were named provincial all-stars while senior left side Nathaniel Berube earned the MVP nod.
“He’s just such a consistent player and such a smart player,” Martine said. “He’s a true team player, he never gets down, point by point with him, he just is all about the team and we can always depend on him.
“This group just worked really hard. We practised five to six times a week and everybody was really important to our success.”
SOSSA – Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School (St Catharines)
TDSSAA – Lawrence Park Collegiate Institute
TDCAA – University of Toronto Schools
SOSSA – E L Crossley Secondary School
WOSSAA – Mother Teresa Catholic Secondary School
TDSSAA – Ursula Franklin Academy
SWOSSAA – Great Lakes Secondary School
YRAA – Sir William Mulock Secondary School
WOSSAA – Mitchell District High School
TDCAA – James Cardinal McGuigan Catholic High School
YRAA – Toronto District Christian High School
TDSSAA – Harbord Collegiate Institute
WOSSAA – East Elgin Secondary School
YRAA – Thornlea Secondary School
———————————————————————————————————-
Cathedral girls going for third-straight OFSAA basketball title, at home
Team has won 85 straight games and is looking to add another provincial championship to its suddenly bursting trophy case this week.
By Scott Radley Spectator Columnist
Matt Trabucco / Supplied The Cathedral Gaels girls basketball team celebrates its third Catholic school city title in a row earlier this month. On Thursday, it will try to win its third straight OFSAA AAA title when it hosts the provincial tournament.
She’s in Grade 13, or taking a “victory lap” if that’s what you want to call it. She’s played on the school basketball team since she transferred to Cathedral High School three years ago where all she’s done is win.
And win and win and win. And then she won some more.
Does the 18-year-old even remember the last game she lost?
“Honestly?” Nubeah Clarke says. “I don’t.”
That’s because her Cathedral team is riding a rather astonishing 85-game winning streak that stretches back to sometime before COVID. Before she was even there.
Beginning Thursday, she and her teammates will be trying to extend that number by a few on their home court. Cathedral is hosting the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations AAA (the category for the most populous schools) tournament.
It’s the first time it’s been in Hamilton in more than a decade. That’s significant. Much more so? They’ll be shooting for their third-straight provincial championship.
Turns out the Gaels of November aren’t just a line in a Gordon Lightfoot tune.
“We don’t want it to stop,” says head coach Kevin Daly.
No kidding.
There have been dominant girls’ teams in this city over the years. St. Mary has won a bunch of OFSAA titles. St. Thomas More and Bishop Ryan, too. Westdale and Ancaster have also won a couple.
This group is now in that conversation. Five members of the squad have implausibly never lost a high school game. What makes this crew unique isn’t just the success it’s having, though. It’s who’s playing.
Many successful high school teams — most, really — are loaded with kids who spend much of their year playing in the rep system and then doing this on the side. Not here.
“Five don’t play any basketball outside Cathedral,” Daly says. “It’s expensive to play club.”
Sure is. Often you’re looking at a couple thousand bucks for a season. For many kids at an inner-city school, that just isn’t possible. In Clarke’s case, she got into the game late, never played club ball as a kid and figured it was too late to start once she got this far.
There’s another challenge facing high schools these days. Many top players at this age attend prep schools that focus on the game and offer specialized training. These expensive, private academies are now often the gateway to big university scholarships. As a result, they tend to lure away the biggest stars.
“We’re from a different demographic,” Daly says of the school’s population.
Some could go. His twin daughters — Keira and Nicole — surely could’ve chosen that route. In the summer, they play in an elite club league that faces top American teams. They’re really good. Yet they’re here for Grade 12.
They didn’t want to miss the full high school experience, they say. They wanted to be able to play other sports, go to school dances and do other non-hoops things. So they chose to stay. They’d play rep and play for Cathedral.
“I love it here,” Keira says.
She and her teammates open the tournament against Peterborough’s St. Peter on Thursday at noon. Depending on how they do, they could face Hamilton’s St. John Henry Newman (which faces Korah Collegiate from Sault Ste. Marie at the same time) in the second round, later in the day.
Westdale is also here. Its first game is against Brampton’s St. Roch at 10:30 a.m.
The championship game is Saturday at 2 p.m.
It’s big for all of them. For Cathedral, this is uniquely huge. Until 2021, the school had never won a provincial title. Now they have a chance for a three-peat. At home.
“That’s so special,” Nicole says.
Students can buy their way out of class for $2 on Thursday to watch. She expects lots will, so the gym will be jammed and rather wild.
Coach Daly says the first title run was nerve-racking because it had never been done by the school before. The second was a little sweaty too, because a few folks had pointed out to him that not every team was back from COVID that first year so they had to win again to prove it was legit.
Now?
“This year, honestly, I’m just enjoying it,” he says.
Though you know he’ll enjoy it even more if the winning streak hits 90 on Saturday and there’s a gold medal around his players’ necks.
MHSAA Tournament Boys A/AA Most Valiable Player: Luke Swain (Miami Marlins)
MHSAA Girls AAA Tournament All Star Team
#21 Kyana Myall – Collage Beliveau; #25 Ava Hall – Leo Remillard; # 12 Kate Swatsky – WC Miller; #9 Isabella Peters – WC Miller; #6 Elli Pomehichuk – Neelinl # 11 Layla Desjarden – Neelin
MHSAA Tournament Girls AAA MVP: #9 Dana Linov – Neelin
MHSAA Boys AAA Tournament All Star Team
# 5 Henry Scarcello SJR; #11 Josh Barrett Louis Riel; #3 Marco Byfield – Linden Christian; #9 Isaak Buhler – Linden Christian; #3 Noah Vandenberg Garden Valley; #9 Isaak Buhler Garden Valley
MHSAA Tournament Boys AAA MVP: #11 Alfredo Enns – Garden Valley
MHSAA JUNIOR VARSITY 2023 A – AAA VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP PARTICIPANTS
Girls
Boys
A/AA
Elton Collegiate Institute
Margaret Barbour Collegiate Institute
Prairie Mountain High School
Carberry Collegiate Institute
Killarney School
Immanuel Christian School
Immanuel Christian School
Elton Collegiate Institute
Warren Collegiate Institute
Warren Collegiate Institute
Goose Lake High School
Green Valley School
Collège régional Gabrielle-Roy
Hamiota High School/Shoal Lake School (Co-Op)
Rosenort School
Glenboro School
Hapnot Collegiate Institute
Miami School
Margaret Barbour Collegiate Institute
Morris School/ École régionale St Jean Baptiste (Co-Op)
Carberry Collegiate Institute
Morweena Christian School
St Paul’s Collegiate Institute (Elie)
Goose Lake High School
AAA
Collège Béliveau
Garden Valley Collegiate Institute
Niverville High School
Linden Christian School
Linden Christian School
Collège Louis-Riel
École secondaire Neelin High School
St John’s-Ravenscourt School
Collège Léo–Rémillard
Calvin Christian Collegiate Institute
Collège Stonewall Collegiate
Niverville High School
W C Miller Collegiate Institute
Westgate Mennonite Collegiate Institute
Virden Collegiate Institute
St Maurice High School
Churchill High School
St James Collegiate Institute
St Boniface diocesan High School
École secondaire Neelin High School
Springfield Collegiate Institute
Swan Valley Regional Secondary School
R D Park Collegiate Institute
R D Park Collegiate Institute
To all the teams who travelled north to our community… we know the road well and we know it’s a long one. We wish you all safe travels home and hope that you are leaving with lots of good memories of Flin Flon! Please come visit us again!
The Neelin Spartans were completely unphased by an 0-3 start to provincials.
While they didn’t win a match in power-pool play, they saved their best for the ones that mattered most. The Spartans ran the table on Friday and Saturday in Winnipeg to capture the AAA junior varsity girls’ volleyball provincial title.
“They left it all out on the floor and it was so awesome to see,” said Neelin head coach Jen Dixon. “It was such a proud feeling as a coach to see that come out in them. The drive to want to win, it was so awesome.
“We started off kind of slow on our Thursday matches because we were playing some tough teams. We knew it was going to be tough competition and it says a whole lot about the group we had to be able to turn their mindset around.”
The 12-team event starts with three pools featuring the top four, next four and bottom four seeds. Neelin was in the top pool and knew it had a bye to the quarterfinals but losing three in a row meant a tougher quarterfinal.
Neelin gutted out a 2-1 win over Stonewall, then avenged an opening-day sweep against College Beliveau in three sets to reach the final.
They faced Altona’s W.C. Miller Aces, who thumped them in pool play. After dropping the first set 25-19, Neelin won 25-11 and thoroughly dominated the tiebreaker, winning 15-7 to secure gold.
“Quarterfinal, semifinal, final, all hard matches with tough opponents that did a lot on their side,” Dixon said.
“Something our girls did, I feel, that helped them achieve that third set was just control our side and give heart. Our girls really showed it in all three of those games.”
Spartans Elli Pomehichuk and Layla Desjardin were named to the tournament all-star team while setter Dana Linov earned MVP honours.
“Dana is a non-stop effort player. You can ask any coach, spectator in the gym,” Dixon said. “Multiple people come up to me after games, up to her after games and say she’s such a pleasure to watch because she is 110 per cent effort the entire game.
“Not only at provincials, every single game throughout the season she gives her all as a player.”
• • •
The Vincent Massey Vikings are one win away from a Brandon sweep of the AAA and AAAA JV girls titles.
Massey dropped the Sturgeon Heights Huskies in straight sets in the AAAA semifinals on Saturday and plays Steinbach Regional on Monday at 6 p.m. in the gold-medal game at Winnipeg’s Investors Group Athletic Centre.
The AAAA boys’ final features Sisler and Gabrielle-Roy.
• • •
The Viking varsity girls are headed back to the final four with a 3-1 (22-25, 25-20, 25-23, 26-24) win over the Fort Richmond Centurions.
Jersey Hansen-Young had a massive 24 kills and 20 digs for Massey, with Mackenzie Lyburn posting 17 kills and five aces.
Kypling Black chipped in four blocks.
The Vikings play the No. 1 seed Lord Selkirk Royals on Wednesday at IGAC at 6 p.m. Steinbach and Jeanne-Sauve meet in the second semifinal at 8 o’clock.
» tfriesen@brandonsun.com
» X: @thomasmfriesen
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Written by Clayton Drege
The Neelin Spartans are Provincial AAA Junior Varsity girls volleyball champions. Neelin defeated Altona’s Miller Aces 19-25, 25-11, 15-7 in the final. Spartans setter Dana Linov was named the tournament MVP. Neelin’s Elli Pomehichuk and Layla Desjardin were All-Stars.
The Vincent Massey Vikings will face the Steinbach Regional Secondary School in the final of the Provincial AAAA Junior Varsity girls volleyball championship Monday at Investors Group Athletic Centre on the campus of the University of Manitoba in south Winnipeg. The Vikings swept the Sturgeon Heights Huskies 25-18, 25-17, 26-24 in the semifinals Saturday night at Dakota Collegiate.
The Zone 9 champion Killarney Raiders lost out to Gabrielle Roy of Ile des Chenes in a play-in game at the Provincial Junior Varsity A/AA volleyball championship in Flin Flon. The Neelin Spartans will face College Beliveau in the girls semifinals at the AAA championships in Winnipeg. Virden were eliminated by Leo Remillard in the quarterfinals. Neelin boys lost out to St. John’s Ravenscourt in the quarterfinals.
