But when the Vanier Vikings took the court at the Saskatchewan High Schools Athletic Association 4A boys volleyball tournament this past weekend, there was none of that. The defending champions were there to win, were favoured to win, and made no mistake in doing so.
The Vikings lost only one set through the entire weekend in North Battleford and utterly steamrolled through the playoffs to claim gold for the second straight year.
As mentioned, it was the third provincial title for Vanier this season and also marked the first time both the boys and girls volleyball teams won championships in the same year – an utterly unprecedented run for any school in the province, let alone Moose Jaw.
After rolling through the competition on Saturday with 2-0 wins over Melfort, Lumsden and Saskatoon E.D. Feehan, the Vikings closed out the round robin with a 4-0 record after running into their only battle of the weekend – a 2-1 win over Saskatoon Marion Graham.
From there, it was off to the playoffs, and the rout was on.
The Vikings would sweep Melville in the quarter-final and take a 2-0 win over Humboldt in the semi before finishing things off with a 2-0 (25-20, 25-14) win over the host North Battleford John Paul II Crusaders in the final.
The Central Cyclones were also in action in 4A provincials, but failed to advance out of their pool after posting a 1-3 record. The Cyclones split their first two games, falling 2-1 to John Paul II before battling to a 2-1 win over Sturgis on Friday and falling in two games to Melville and Humboldt to close out the round robin.
At the 2A boys championships in Wilkie, the Cornerstone Christian School Falcons lost their opener 2-0 to Thunderchild but rebounded with three straight wins 2-1 over Hepburn, 2-0 over Arcola and 2-0 over Paradise Hill to reach the playoff round.
There, the Falcons ended up in an epic quarter-final battle with Redvers before falling 2-1 (12-25, 25-22, 15-7).
