The Carlton Crusaders Sr. Boys volleyball team captured bronze at 5A provincials on Saturday, the school's first medal in the sport in 10 years. (Carlton Comprehensive High School/Facebook)

By Logan Lehmann

Podium finish

Carlton boys claim third at 5A provincials, first provincial medal in volleyball since 2014

Nov 17, 2024 | 12:11 PM

The Carlton Sr. Boys volleyball team is returning to Prince Albert from provincials with some hardware.

The Crusaders were down in Balgonie and White City for the 5A volleyball provincial championships and finished third on the podium, defeating Winston Knoll from Regina 2-1 (16-25, 25-23, 15-13) in the bronze medal game.

The win marks the first medal in volleyball for Carlton in 10 years, with their last medal win being gold when the Crusader boys won it all in 2014 over St. Mary. Since their championship win a decade ago, Carlton hadn’t finished on the podium in either boys or girls volleyball with their closest result being fourth place, which the girls achieved four times while the boys did it once.

To get to the championships, the two teams with the best record in 5A regionals secured their spot in the provincial tournament. Carlton finished regionals with a perfect 4-0 record, while Lloydminster claimed second with a 3-1 record. St. Mary narrowly missed a spot in provincials, ending regionals at 2-2.

At the provincial tournament, Carlton ended the round-robin at 2-2 and secured the fourth seed in Pool A. Despite being the underdog against #1 Lloydminster, the Cru used their experience from regionals and managed to take down the Barons 2-1 (25-17, 15-25, 17-15) in the quarterfinals to advance to the semis. There, they met their match and were swept in straight sets, falling to the eventual provincial champions St. Joseph from Saskatoon 2-0 (25-19, 25-17).

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The loss didn’t mean the end for Carlton as they were now playing in the third-place game against Winston Knoll, who lost to Aden Bowman from Saskatoon in their semifinal matchup. As mentioned previously, the Crusaders took down W.K. 2-1 to win bronze.

In the boys gold medal game, St. Joesph defeated Aden Bowman 2-1 (11-25, 25-22, 18-16).

The final bracket for the 2024 5A boys volleyball provincial championship. (SHSAA)

Carlton, St. Mary girls both fall in quarterfinal matchups at provincials

In a feat that’s only happened four times in the last 10 years, neither the Carlton nor the St. Mary girls’ volleyball teams played for a medal at their provincial tournament.

Both teams were in Weyburn for the championships this weekend which saw either team lose their quarterfinal matchups in straight sets.

Following the round robin, Carlton placed fourth in Pool A with a 1-3 record while St. Mary was the opposite in Pool B, finishing second with a 3-1 record. Despite this, both of them qualified for the playoffs.

St. Mary lined up against Saskatoon St. Joseph in the quarters, falling 2-0 (25-17, 25-19) while Carlton suffered the same fate against Balgonie, also losing 2-0 (25-14, 25-18) in round one.

Swift Current was eventually crowned champions of 5A girls provincial volleyball, downing Balgonie 2-0 (25-15, 25-23) while Saskatoon Holy Cross won bronze over St. Joseph, 2-0 (25-23, 25-14).

The final bracket for the 2024 5A girls volleyball provincial championship. (SHSAA)

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loganc.lehmann@pattisonmedia.com