TRURO, N.S. – The Cobequid Cougars #1 team captured the Sydney Academy invitational girls’ volleyball tournament for the sixth time in the past seven years over the weekend.
In an all CEC final, the Cougars defeated CEC #2 in straight sets in the championship match by scores of 25-17, 25-19.
The winners went through the six-team event without dropping a set. The Cougars finished first in their pool with wins over Dr. J.H. Gillis, Sydney Academy and CEC #2. They defeated SAERC 25-12, 25-9 in a semifinal.
CEC #2 struggled in round-robin play, losing all three of their matches. They had straight-set losses to SAERC and CEC #1 and a close three-set loss to Riverview. They were able to turn things around in the playoff round with straight-set wins over Sydney Academy in the quarter-finals and J.H. Gillis in a semifinal to set up the all-CEC final.
Laura Hughes McKay and Emma Shive were selected tournament all-stars and Shayla Gloade tournament MVP.
Leading the CEC #1 attack was Nicole Rector with 24 kills and only one hitting error for a 65.7 per cent attack percentage. Gloade had 17 kills and only three hitting errors for a 41.2 attack percentage.
Hughes McKay led the team in serving with 16 aces and only one serving error for a 3.87 serving average, while Maddie Greatorex had six aces and only one serving error for a 3.38 serving average. Hughes McKay was the top serve-receiver for the Cougars with six perfect passes out of six attempts for a 3.00 serve-receive average. Hannah Crouse had 16 perfect passes and a 2.27 serve-receive average.
Gloade led the way on defence with six spike digs and seven tip digs, followed by Greatorex with seven spike digs and five tip digs. CEC setters Rebecca Worden and Mariah Putnam ran a balanced and varied attack which kept their opponents guessing as to where the next set was going.
Leading the attack for CEC #2 was Maddy Ball with 36 kills. Emma Fortunato had 15 kills and only two hitting errors to for a 44.8 per cent attack percentage. Fortunato also led the team in serving with 12 aces, two serving errors, and 40 successful serves for a 3.52 serving average. Ball had 11 aces and three serving errors, while Macailin Tanner had eight aces and only two serving errors. Caitlin Whooten had 22 perfect passes and Emma Shive had 12 perfect passes and a 1.97 serve-receive average.
Ball was everywhere on defence with 18 spike digs and 16 tip digs. Caitlin Whooten had 24 spike digs and three tip digs, while Shive had 14 spike digs and three tip digs.
This weekend, both CEC girls teams will be competing in the West Kings invitational tournament in Auburn. It will be the last invitational tournament of the season. Both teams begin NSSAF playoffs on the Nov. 17-18 weekend when they host the Northumberland regional championships.
