The high school volleyball season officially came to a close Dec. 9, when teams gathered for a wrap-up party at the Jasper Junior/Senior High School.
The ceremony took place over the lunch hour and included the presentation of eight MVP and most improved player awards, as well as one leadership award.
Most improved player awards went to Britney Romanuik for the junior girls, Ben Lameris for the junior boys, Taylore Czorny for the senior girls, and Brett Hefner for the senior boys.
Nabbing MVP honours were Jenna Sillence for the junior girls, Simon Mahut for the junior boys, Lauren Ewald for the senior girls and Liam Lanigan for the senior boys.
Britney Peleshaty took the leadership award, which coaches presented to her for her dedication to helping out with—and even occasionally coaching—the junior teams.
Junior coach Marshall Corbett praised the amount of time Peleshaty put into helping out younger players, saying that the extra attention she gave them will pay off tremendously as they go through the volleyball program.
After the presentation, while the players munched on free pizza, Corbett said the extra space in the new gym at the joint school facility allowed the school to put together a Junior B team for the first time ever. Having an outlet for players to get on the court in early grades will benefit them immensely in the coming years, and players like Peleshaty are a big part of that, he said.
And while the coaches look with optimism to coming years, this season results were mixed, but solid overall.
The Junior B boys took home the first-place banner from the Grande Yellowhead Finals, and the Junior A girls barely missed first place in their division, losing in the finals by a mere two points.
The Junior A boys took home a bronze medal, while the Junior B girls were happy to win their first ever match at the end of the season.
The senior girls put up a strong showing in their division, but failed to make the playoffs.
Attendance problems kept the senior boys from travelling to the final competition.
“I think it was a really great season—I saw some huge improvement and I think it bodes really well for our program. I think we’re going to be really strong in the next couple of years if we can keep up enrollment,” Corbett said.
Senior coach Terry Lanigan agreed, saying that victories at younger ages have set Jasper’s players up for success down the road.
“It’s a learning process. You have to learn how to win, and that’s what the girls are doing. Now that they’re having success in junior high, that makes it easier because they’re already learning how to win.”
Corbett said that about 60 players signed up for volleyball this season. With more than 25 per cent of the total student population playing the sport, he hopes that success will continue.
