Jason Stockfish | [email protected]
After a hard-fought win against St. Michaels, Jasper’s senior boys’ volleyball team defeated Edmonton’s Parkland Immanuel Christian School to go 2-0 at the prestigious Provincial Championship.
With will, skill and determination, the hometown Cougars took a quick lead over their opponents in the opening minutes of their first set, but it wouldn’t last long as the Penguins fought back to even the score 8-8.
As both squads showed off the exceptional talents that got them into the championship, the two teams rallied back and forth, keeping the ball in play when it seemed nearly impossible.
When the teams were tied at 10, Ty Claxton offered a nice touch to finesse the ball over the net, to put Jasper up by one.
And then, despite some fancy footwork from one of the Penguins, the Cougars continued to press, stretching their lead to two at 12-10.
While both teams fought with the grit needed to win, the score remained tight at 14-14, then 17-17, until Jasper began to notch up a few unanswered points to earn a four-point lead at 23-19.
Edmonton made the first set a close one, getting the scoreboard to 23-22 at one point, but that was all they’d get as the Cougars scored the last two points needed to earn the win.
The second set started with a huge smash by Jasper’s Michael Hayashi to put the Cougars up 1-0.
At one point, the Penguins had a 9-7 lead, but gritty play, a couple more hammers by Claxton and a stunning save by Jacob Bouchard allowed the Cougars to even the score 10-10.Â
Then a power serve by Jasper’s setter, Dexter Fawcett, gave Jasper the lead once more.
Edmonton went on a bit of a stretch and was up 15-12 before the Cougars answered with three straight to tie the set at 15.
Jasper found themselves up 21-18 when a timeout was called.
Errors were few and far by either squad, and the crowd was treated to some mesmerizing rallies.
However, Jasper’s luck began to take a turn for the worse, as not one but two serves by the Penguins hit the net and somehow found their way over, falling into impossible reaches, helping them to edge out the Cougars 25-23 in the second set.
The matchup would have to be settled with a third set to 15 points.
Feeling the sting of their hard-fought loss in the second set, the Cougars pounced on the Penguins to start the third, quickly going up 4-1.
Determined not to let Jasper run away with it, the Edmonton team tied the set 5-5 moments later.
However, the Penguin’s efforts weren't enough to slow the Cougars in their relentless pursuit of the win as they tallied six in a row to go up 11-6.
The Penguins would get two more points, but not before the Cougars got four more and took the third set 15-8.
Jasper’s wins were the result of all members firing on all cylinders, with huge stuffs by Kalan Sawchuck and Ethan Perepolkin along the way and key plays by Griffin Shepherd, Jude Palzat and Dylan Skinner helping the Cougars’ with their impressive start to the tournament.
The senior boys are now 2-0 in the Provincial Championship in Vegreville..
Their next games are Nov. 25 at 4:00 p.m. versus Bawlf and again at 7:45 p.m. against the host team, the St. Mary’s Saints.
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