The Lawrie Hobart Memorial Volleyball Tournament is always one of the first sporting events of the scholastic calendar year, but it meant something different this year.
The tournament in Fort Smith had the distinction of being the opening salvo of the school sports calendar with five communities in total sending teams to compete for the first banners of the season. In addition to Fort Smith, there were teams from Hay River, Yellowknife, Behchoko and Ndilo.
And it would be Paul W. Kaeser High School (PWK) from the host community that would make sure several of them stayed behind as the Huskies captured five of the eight up for grabs: 19U boys, 15U girls and boys, and the Grade 7/8 boys and girls.
Chief Jimmy Bruneau School from Behchoko scored the 19U girls banner by beating Sir John Franklin High School from Yellowknife, while Princess Alexandra School won the Grade 5/6 girls banner and Joseph Burr Tyrrell School of Fort Smith took the Grade 5/6 boys title.
Allie McDonald, the tournamentSA国际影视传媒檚 organizer and coach of the victorious PWK 15U girls squad, said it wasnSA国际影视传媒檛 a shock for the school to win five banners, but not a complete surprise, either.
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The 15U and 19U divisions all played best-of-five set finals, while the junior divisions played best-of-three-set deciders. All of the senior title match-ups went the distance, which led to a long Sunday, but that didnSA国际影视传媒檛 bother McDonald too much.
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Seeing community teams win all eight banners was a bonus as well, she added.
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This was the second consecutive year the tournament has been held since the end of the pandemic, but McDonald said there was plenty of nervousness about whether it would happen at all considering all thatSA国际影视传媒檚 transpired.
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Here are the official results:
19U Boys
1st - Paul W. Kaeser (PWK, Fort Smith)
2nd - Sir John Franklin (Yellowknife)
3rd - Diamond Jenness Secondary (DJSS, Hay River)
19U Girls
1st - Chief Jimmy Bruneau School (CJBS, Behchoko)
2nd - Sir John Franklin
3rd - PWK
15U Girls
1st - PWK
2nd - CJBS
3rd - DJSS
15U Boys
1st - PWK
2nd - PWK
Grade 7/8 Boys
1st - PWK
2nd - DJSS
3rd - Princess Alexandra (PA, Hay River)
Grade 7/8 Girls
1st - PWK
2nd - DJSS
3rd - PA
Grade 5/6 Boys
1st - PA
2nd - Joseph Burr Tyrrell (JBT, Fort Smith)
Grade 5/6 Girls
1st - JBT
2nd - PA
