Junior Spike It! is one of those tournaments where one school either runs away with it all or the banners are pretty spread out.

The latter was the case in this year's tournament, though William McDonald School did manage to show a bit better than others.

The Wildcats managed to snag the most banners once the championship games wrapped up on Oct. 5 with three new titles to add to the gymnasium wall. They were victorious in the Grade 6 boys division thanks to their win over St. Joe's in the final, while both of the Grade 8 teams claimed victory. The boys defeated Allain St. Cyr, while the girls beat St. Pat's to win that title.

Darren Wicks, the school phys-ed teacher, said there were enough players to put together 17 teams in total and he figures that's close to 80 per cent of the school's population.

There's also a long-standing tradition at the school where no one team is stacked to try and guarantee a win.

"We always want to have that parity," he said. "We make sure the teams are always close together, so we spread the talent out. You may have two or three really good kids on a team and the rest you don't know. But I'm not worried about it because the teams always work themselves out."

In the other divisions, Weledeh captured the Grade 7 boys title with a win over St. Joe's, but St. Joe's would not leave empty-handed as the Huskies nabbed the Grade 7 girls crown in a reversal of fortune by beating Weledeh.

Behchoko was the only community team to make the trip in and they ended up leaving with one of the Grade 6 banners as the girls team from Elizabeth MacKenzie Elementary School beat William McDonald for the title.

Lisa Zoe, vice-principal at EMES, said it had been several years since a team from the school had been to a volleyball tournament in Yellowknife and there was some worry if they'd be able to field a full team.

"We started practices three weeks before the tournament," she said. "We're just a junior kindergarten to Grade 6 school and there are only so many kids in Grades 5 and 6 who would be interested, but we had just enough for each of our teams."

The low numbers gave Zoe some concern, but a phone call to Wicks made things feel a bit more comfortable.

"I called him and asked if this was possible to do and he told us they really wanted us to come, so that support made us feel more comfortable," she said. "We were a bit discouraged leading up to the tournament, but everyone was very supportive."

The win seems to have put a bit of wind in the sails of the EMES outfit as they're now planning on making the trip to Fort Smith in the coming days for the Lawrie Hobart Memorial Volleyball Tournament.

Zoe said they've already taken care of the paperwork and now it's all about hitting the road.

"They have a lot of confidence now," she said. "The girls have made us so proud and going to Fort Smith is kind of a reward."