The Bellerose Bulldogs are the top division three senior women’s team in metro Edmonton volleyball after winning Wednesday’s final.
The Bulldogs polished off the J.H. Picard Pumas in four sets at Memorial Composite High School to finish 12-3.
The Bulldogs also needed four sets to beat the Pumas (10-5) in league play Sept. 28.
The Bulldogs are led by three returning players – Meghan Foster and Kristin Kolthof, the only Grade 12s on the roster, and Abbey Kirchner in Grade 11.
The 2015 Bulldogs finished 4-5 in division two.
The last volleyball championship for the Bellerose senior women’s team was 2013 in division two.
The St. Albert Skyhawks lost only three sets in league play as the undefeated metro Edmonton division three junior men’s volleyball champions.
The 13th victory without a loss for the Skyhawks was Monday’s 25-20, 25-18, 25-23 sweep of the Sturgeon Spirits (10-3) at Memorial Composite High School.
One of the sets the Skyhawks dropped was against Sturgeon in the 25-21, 24-26, 27-25, 25-16 win Oct. 4.
The other two sets were against the J. Percy Page Panthers (8-3) in league play and Mother Margaret Mary Storm (4-7) in the quarter-finals.
Last year’s juniors finished 4-8.
Returning players are Aidan Krips, Noah Brodeur and James Wright.
The metro banner is the first for the junior men since winning the 1998 city conference.
The last St. Albert Catholic High School volleyball team to celebrate a metro championship before the junior Skyhawks was the 2013 division two junior women.
The St. Albert Skyhawks are expected to host the 3A zone women’s volleyball tournament next weekend as the No. 1-ranked team in the draw.
The winner will join the Strathcona Christian Academy Eagles as the metro Edmonton zone reps at the 3A provincials, Nov. 24 to 26 in Camrose.
In division one, the pool A Eagles (5-5) lost in the final and the pool B Skyhawks (6-2) fell in the quarter-finals.
Last year the Skyhawks won the 3A provincial championship after losing the division one final.
The top two teams in the St. Albert Physical Education Council junior high boys’ volleyball league will meet in the Tier I city final Thursday.
The Lorne Akins Gators (9-0, 27 GW/3 GL) and Richard S. Fowler Falcon (8-1, 26 GW/6 GL) will play for the championship banner at 8 p.m. at Bellerose Composite High School.
Lorne Akins, last year’s finalist and 2014 champion, defeated Fowler 25-23, 22-25, 25-16, 22-25, 15-8 in league play Oct. 6.
In the girls’ semifinals Monday, the Sir George Simpson Voyageurs (8-0, 24 GW/4 GL) host the Vincent J, Maloney Marauders (5-3, 17 GW/13 GL), the defending champions, and Lorne Akins (5-3, 18 GW/10 GL) is at Fowler (23 GW/4 GL).
The winners meet in Thursday’s Tier I city final at 6 p.m. at Bellerose.
