The St. Albert Skyhawks failed to make the 3A provincial cut at zones in high school volleyball.
The female and male teams finished first in their respective metro Edmonton conferences, but were 1-3 at zones and didn’t make the semifinals. Two women’s and two men’s teams advanced to provincials.
In the premier conference the lady Skyhawks were 8-0 in league play. After defeating the eighth-place Salisbury Sabres in five sets in the quarter-finals they bowed out in the semifinals to the fourth-place Ardrossan Bisons in five sets in St. Albert.
The Skyhawks were seeded first in the eight-team zone draw and co-hosted the tournament. They were swept by the third-seeded Bisons in the best-of-three pool A match and in Saturday’s playoff round were eliminated in two sets by the second-seeded Holy Trinity Trojans.
The Skyhawks men were seeded fourth in their eight-team zone tournament.
The Bisons, seeded third at zones, defeated the Skyhawks in two sets in Saturday’s playoff at Louis St. Laurent High School.
The Skyhawks finished 13-1 in league play after winning the city conference championship in metro.
The midget 15 St. Albert Flyers were victorious at the Prospects Cup in Chestermere last weekend.
In the final the Flyers beat the Canadian Athletic Club 5-3. Cam Mazur tallied twice and Ethan Lazaro, Curtis Peck and Matt Quartel also scored.
Peck was named the tournament MVP.
The 16-team tournament featured the top minor midget AAA teams in Alberta and British Columbia.
It was also head coach Rick Thomson’s fourth straight trip to the final with the Flyers, but his first cup victory.
The Flyers opened the tournament with identical 5-3 wins over the Leduc Oil Kings and Lethbridge Hurricanes, followed by a 3-3 draw with Airdrie to clinch first place in their pool.
In the quarter-finals the Flyers blanked the Spruce Grove Saints 3-0 as Pat Dea recorded the shutout and in the semifinals defeated the Red Deer IROC Chiefs 4-1.
In league play the Flyers were 4-2-3 going into Tuesday’s home game against Leduc (5-4-2). The score was unavailable at press time.
The next game for the 2012 north division playoff winners and provincial bronze medallists is Sunday against the AC Avalanche (6-4-1) at 1:30 p.m. at Akinsdale Arena.
