15u boys volleyball
* back row - Sterling Tschetter, Tyler Wieler, Mitchell Wiens, Head Coach Dan Andrie * middle row - Reagan Martin, Tanner Williams, Matthew Smid * front row - Kyle Theise, Taylor Mattson, Dylan Mortensen, Remington Tschetter, Assistant Coach Tyler Dickie (missing from photo: Ethan Warkentin)

This past weekend (May 18-20), the 15u mens Jr. SunDogs volleyball team travelled to Regina for the Volleyball Canada National Championships for their age division.  They played in a 32-team tournament against teams from across Canada, including many great teams from Ontario, Manitoba, British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan.  Some of the teams participating have already formed elite groups of players that play together a good majority of the year, so tough competition was expected to be the norm.

The Jr. SunDogs went into the tournament seeded 3rd in the province of Saskatchewan following their bronze medal finish at provincials a couple of weeks ago. 
 
Preliminary pool round robin results - although the team could have anticipated a better result, they finished the first pool with an 0-3 record.  They lost to an Ontario team 18-25, 18-25; lost to an opponent from Alberta they had the opportunity to beat 22-25, 23-25; and lost to Manitoba 20-25, 12-25.  This placed them fourth in their pool. 
 
Following a re-pooling of teams, the team still could not find their game and followed up with a disappointing 0-3 record in the re-pool.  They lost against another Alberta team 13-25 and 21-25, to Brandon 18-25 and 14-25, and a very tough loss to a Yorkton team 25-11, 20-25, 14-16. 
 
These results placed the team in Tier 4 of Division 1 for the weekend.  They saved their best play of the weekend for Monday's games and the results would be favorable.  The first match saw them against a Regina team and they won 25-11 and 25-11.  In the semi-final match, they played a team from Edmonton and came out victorious 14-25, 25-21, 15-12.  This placed them in the Tier 4 gold medal match against a good team from Red Deer - Jr. SunDogs would come out on top 25-22, 9-25, 15-12. 
 
All in all, a great weekend of experience against the best 15u mens teams from across the country.  SunDogs come home with a gold medal in their pockets and finish their season off with 3 straight match wins to end their year on a high note.