The Paul Kane Blues are on the verge of a sweet repeat in premier women’s volleyball.
The Blues will defend their Metro Edmonton High School Athletic Association championship today against the Bev Facey Falcons. The first serve is 5 p.m. at Austin O’Brien High School. Admission is $3.
In the latest 4A provincial rankings Facey is third and the Blues are fourth. They are the only metro teams to crack the top 10.
Both teams are 12-1 in metro. The Blues finished first in the premier standings for the second time in three years after a rollercoaster 19-25, 18-25, 25-17, 25-20, 17-15 victory over Facey last month in Sherwood Park. The Blues hung tough to complete the comeback despite blowing an 11-3 lead in the fifth set.
At a recent tournament at Salisbury Composite High School the Blues swept Facey in two sets in round-robin action, but in the rematch lost the final 25-16, 22-25, 13-15.
The Blues qualified for their third premier final in four years after sweeping the fifth-place Ardrossan Bisons in Monday’s semifinal in St. Albert. Facey knocked off the third-place Holy Trinity Trojans, also in three sets.
The metro champion travels Wednesday to play the winner of the Edmonton public league final between the Scona Lords, ranked first in 4A, and the Harry Ainlay Titans. The playoff will determine who is ranked first and second in the Edmonton zone for provincials, Nov. 24-26 at Strathcona Composite High School.
The metro runner-up will host the public league’s third-ranked 4A team Wednesday to decide the third zone team at provincials.
Last year at provincials the Blues finished eighth at 2-5 after a seventh-place 4-3 showing in 2009.
Sunday at 8 p.m. the St. Albert Merchants host the Leduc Riggers at Akinsdale Arena.
In the Capital Junior B Hockey League the Merchants ranked fourth in the west standings at 8-4-2, prior to Friday’s road game against the Beaumont Chiefs. The score was unavailable at press time.
The St. Albert Raiders wrap up their eight-game homestand at Akinsdale Arena this weekend in the Alberta Midget AAA Hockey League.
The Raiders (10-1-1) play the Red Deer Rebels (6-2-1) tonight at 8 p.m. Sunday’s game against the Leduc Oil Kings (9-2-1) starts at 1:15 p.m.
In the north standings the Raiders and Leduc are ranked first and second, respectively. Leduc is the host team for the Telus Cup national championship in April.
Last weekend the Raiders suffered their first loss of the season. The 2-1 win by the Calgary Northstars (7-3-2) also halted the Raiders’ nine-game winning streak.
