ELMSDALE – Two P.E.I. teams won medals at the 34th annual Wolverine Volleyball Classic on Saturday.
The Three Oaks Axemen took home silver while the Bluefield Bobcats captured the bronze medal in the senior AAA boys-calibre tournament.
Cobequid Education Centre (CEC) from Truro, N.S., defeated the Axemen 25-18, 25-22 in the championship match at Westisle Composite High School.
“The guys played really well against CEC, they are a really strong team in fundamentally all aspects of the game,” assessed Axemen head coach Stephen Boyd. “They are tough servers, excellent passers, great hitters, and they play strong defence.”
CEC head coach Harvey MacEachern acknowledges the Wolverine Classic is a tough tournament to win.
“I’ve been here 27 or 28 years with a group from our school, and I was really pleased how focused our kids were in the final,” commented MacEachern. “We certainly had some momentum, and then some things going against us.
“In the second set we lost our focus, but we were tough in the end and played well,”
Boyd added the Axemen knew they would need a “solid performance” against CEC.
“I think, for the most part, we did,” said Boyd. “We had a couple of mental lapses, where we probably made some poor choices on our offense and that cost us.
“When we had the ball on our side of the court we had to control it, and we have to make sure we put it away.”
Boyd pointed out three of his players that particularly stood out.
“We had a strong performance over the whole weekend from Ethan Boyd, Ben MacDougall and Kamden Arsenault,” offered Boyd. “They all had phenomenal tournaments, and we counted on those guys to carry the bulk of the offence. They did a really good job.”
Bronze medal
Bluefield head coach Lynn Boudreau had nothing but praise for her team after defeating Sackville in a very close and hard-fought bronze-medal match.
“We had a great weekend,” beamed Boudreau after the Bobcats’ 2-1 win over Sackville. Scores were 25-23, 23-25, 15-12.
Boudreau praised Bluefield’s Nathan Willis, who was named a tournament all-star.
“I was also very pleased with setter Connor Chapman, because part of our goal was to run a fast offence, and he was able to do that the whole weekend,” said Boudreau.
Tournament sponsors included Greco, KFC, Martin Hardwood, Mill River Experience, and major sponsor Holland College Hurricanes.
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Playoffs
Wolverine Classic playoff results:
Quarter-finals
Cobequid defeated Westisle 2-0 (25-18, 25-7).
Bluefield defeated West Kings 2-1 (25-23, 23-25, 15-10).
Three Oaks defeated Charlottetown Rural 2-0 (25-17. 25-19).
Sackville defeated Montague 25-17, 26-24).
Semifinals
Cobequid defeated Sackville 2-0 (25-14, 25-11).
Three Oaks defeated Bluefield 2-0 (25-18, 25-16).
Bronze-Medal Match
Bluefield defeated Sackville 2-1 (25-23, 23-25, 15-12).
Gold-Medal Match
Cobequid defeated Three Oaks 2-0 (25-18, 25-22).
