The East Central Boys volleyball championships were held over the weekend at the Yorkton Regional High School.
It was one of two volleyball tournaments held in the City at the same time. While the Gr. 9s were battling it out at the YRHS, the senior clubs from the local schools were up against each other at Sacred Heart.
Teams competing at the Regional's tournament included: YRHS, SHHS, Melville Comprehensive, Esterhazy, Sturgis, Norquay, Langenburg and Invermay.
Order of finishes was Melville (gold), Esterhazy (silver), Langenburg (bronze).
Darren Wandy, coach of the Regional squad and organizer of the Gr. 9 tournament, said Melville won their set in two straight games.
Langenburg and Invermay needed an extra game to win their set, 2-1.
"I felt that the two top teams were in the final. MCS made the most improvements throughout the year. Every tournament they seemed to get better. Melville had a very athletic team. Dan Alspach, coach of the Cobras deserves a notable mention for leading his team to a gold medal."
Wandy added that Esterhazy's team has been strong all year.
"Ed Frazer has worked with the same kids in the program for the last couple of years. It was a good final between the two groups."
When it comes to the success of his own program, Wandy wasn't quite as enthusiastic, but insisted that any fault with his team rests on himself.
"As for the YRHS, we failed to win any of our round robin matches which took us out of playoff contention. This has been par for the course all year. Don't get me wrong, the guys have really improved, however just couldn't seem to get it together to string points together to get a win. The failures of this year's team start and end with me. The kids have worked hard this season; I don't know if I did enough to prepare them for competition."
There is one more tournament coming up for Wandy's team which he said he hopes that they can salvage something out of it as they travel east to Brandon.
