TRURO, N.S. – The Cobequid Cougars remain perfect in high school girls volleyball tournament action this season.
The Cougars claimed their fourth straight tournament banner last weekend by winning the Dalhousie University high school event in Halifax.
Cobequid defeated Halifax rivals Citadel Phoenix 25-13, 25-12 in the final behind strong serving and net play, which allowed CEC to build large leads in both sets.
The Cougars finished first in their round-robin pool with straight-set wins over Colonel Gray, Three Oaks and C. P. Allen. CEC started the tournament with a 25-9 first-set win over Colonel Gray, but the Charlottetown school built an 18-11 lead in the second set before CEC setter Mariah Putnam took over with a 12-point serving run to win that set 25-20. The Cougars then had a tough match against C.P. Allen, winning 25-21, 25-15. In a semifinal against J. L. Illsley, CEC was fortunate to pull out the first set, having to come from behind to win 26-24. The second set was all CEC with the Cougars serving dominating the match to win 25-9.
Leading the Cougars attack was Maddie Greatorex with 15 kills and only one hitting error. Maddy Ball had 15 kills, while Emma Fortunato had 12 kills. The strong serving of the Cougars was a major factor in their victory. Caitlin Whooten had 15 aces and 43 successful serves, while Putnam had 11 aces and 34 successful serves. Ball had eight aces and only two serving errors, while Greatorex had seven aces.
Greatorex was the top serve-receiver with 13 perfect passes and a 2.15 serve-receive average followed by MacKay Kincaid-Webster with eight perfect passes and a 1.90 serve-receive average.
Whooten led the team on defence with 13 spike digs followed by Hannah Huntley with nine spike digs and Emma Shive with eight spike digs. Emma Fortunato led the team in blocking with eight stuff blocks and 16 continue blocks while Macailin Tanner had four stuff blocks and six continue blocks.
Putnam had an outstanding weekend as the Cougars setter, chasing down balls all over the court. In addition to her consistent setting, she had five spike digs, seven tip digs, 11 serving aces, five stuff blocks, five continue blocks and seven kills.
Putnam was named tournament MVP, while Greatorex and Ball were selected tournament all-stars. Maddie MacGregor, the Cougars outstanding middle hitter, is still missing from action with a sprained ankle.
The Cougars JV Team did not play this weekend, but both teams will compete in the Mount Saint Vincent University high school tournament in Bedford this coming weekend with 22 of the top teams from Nova Scotia entered in the event.
