For the second time this season the senior girls at Prince George Secondary were victorious in the gold-medal match over their 4A volleyball rivals from North Peace Secondary.
With less than a week before the zone championship the Polars edged the Ookapik in the PGSS Invitational on Saturday 2-1 (21-25, 25-21 and 15-11). Two weeks ago, the Polars won the Kelly Road tournament, also in three sets, beating North Peace in the final.
The two schools will face each other this weekend in Fort St. John when NPSS hosts the Polars and Correlieu Clan (Quesnel) for the right to represent the north-central zone at the 4A provincial championship. PGSS placed third in zones last season, while NPSS represented the region at the provincial tournament.
In Saturday's final, the Polars started slow, falling behind early and battling back to pull within a single point a couple times, but the Ookapik held onto their advantage. The Polars ended the set outscoring NPSS 6-3.
The teams traded points back and forth in the second set with the Polars holding the upper hand, with the home side tying the match at a set apiece with four of the final five points. In the deciding set the Polars pulled out to an 8-4 lead and held on.
Both teams finished on top of their pools Friday with 3-0 records, receiving byes to the quarterfinal, where the Ookapik edged the D.P. Todd Trojans 2-1 (25-18, 18-25 and 15-11) and the Polars knocked off the Chetwynd Cavaliers 2-0 (25-11, 25-14).
In the semifinal, NPSS and PGSS swept past the Correlieu Clan and Duchess Park Condors. The Ookapik beat the Clan 25-22, 25-14 and the Polars relegated the Condors 25-17, 25-15.
The bronze-medal match between the Clan and Condors also went to a third set with Duchess Park earning the win 24-26, 25-17 and 15-10.
The Cavaliers tied for fifth place with the College Heights A Cougars, while the Trojans and Valemont shared seventh place. Ninth place went to the Kelly Road Roadrunners after the beat the Cedars Eagles 25-19, 25-16, while the Fort St. James Falcons won the last-place battle with the CHSS B Cougars 25-12, 25-18.
The North-Central zone championships take place on the weekend with the senior girls 4A - the Polars - and senior boys 3A teams - the Polars and Roadrunners - heading to Fort St. John. Duchess Park will host the 3A senior girls tournament with the Roadrunners and Dawson Creek looking to dethrone the seven-time champs.
Both the senior girls and boys 2A tournaments will be played at College Heights, while the Cedars Eagles senior girls will head to Tumbler Ridge for the 1A play downs.
