Another season of scholastic volleyball is over in the NWT and with it came some exciting finishes.
And no, it wasn't a year dominated by Yellowknife.
James McCarthy/NNSL photo
Inuvik's East Three Secondary School managed to leave Senior Spike It! with two banners of their own as the school's U15 girls squad won the Tier 1 banner over St. Pat's High School of Yellowknife in the final while the U19 boys team won the Tier 2 banner.
Junior girls' volleyball coach Twyla Amos said the tournament was amazing this year – of the 17 sets they played, they only lost two.
"My girls were undefeated champions all weekend … I'm so proud of them," said Amos.
In the round robin rounds at Spike It!, Amos said teams were playing best of three games.
"We beat every team in two sets," she said. "The semi-final was the first time that we went to three sets all weekend."
The next time they lost a set was in the final, a best-of-five game.
The junior girls won their first set 27-25, lost the second set 25-17, and then went on to win the third and fourth sets 25-18 and 25-21, taking home the title.
"It was so close the whole final, it was very intense, I was stressed out," said Amos. "I've never heard a volleyball game so loud from both sides, there was so much cheering … I was so proud, I cried my heart out when we won."
Junior girls' player Kierra McDonald also took home the title of tournament MVP.
Amos said she's pretty sure this is the first time a team from East Three Secondary School has been so successful at Spike It!.
"My heart and my soul are so happy. My girls definitely deserved it, they worked so hard and they were set on bringing banner home, and they did," said Amos. "I just want to say a huge thank you to the school, BDEC, Gene Jenks, Matthew Miller, Colin Pybus, MACA, Kelcy McDonald … and of course my lifelong coach and inspiration Jeffery Amos, my father, for giving me a lot of his knowledge and passion for the sport."
Stacey Christie, senior boys' coach, said the team struggled through the round-robin games, but improved in every game to eventually win the tier two champion title.
Tobi Taylor-Dusome, who helped organize the tournament, said it was hard to not be happy for the victorious girls team.
“They were so nice all weekend long and they played amazing,” she said. “You always like to see the communities do well and watching how excited they were after winning just put the cherry on top.”
Diamond Jenness Secondary School from Hay River also won itself a banner as the school's U15 girls team won the Tier 2 title.
-with files from James McCarthy