In the inaugural meeting of the season the PGSS Polars drew first blood on their 4A senior girls volleyball rivals from North Peace Secondary.
The Polars defeated NPSS 25-23, 21-25 and 15-7 in the gold-medal game Saturday at the Kelly Road Secondary senior girls volleyball tournament.
Polars' power-hitter Shaunyce Gray was thrilled with her team's rally from an eight-point deficit in the second set and domination in the third.
"It was crazy," said the 17 year old about beating their chief rival in the north. "We just showed how much we wanted it and changed our mindsets, really pushed and it just clicked. Finally."
In a tight opening set, the Polars carried a two-point lead until a lengthy rally pulled NPSS within a point at 24-23. NPSS lost the next point, but the rally inspired them to come out hard in the middle set.
NPSS led 16-8, but the Polars fought back to close the gap to 21-19.
Gray said it was the Polars own fault they fell behind.
"A lot of the mistakes were on our side," said Gray, a second-year member of the senior team. "They didn't really earn the points.
Risa Pallister led NPSS in the final, collecting several points and keeping rallies alive.
In the third set the Polars fell behind 0-2, but earned 10 of the next 12 points, building a 10-4 advantage.
The win was the Polars' second home tournament victory of the season.
Houston Christian edged the College Heights Cougars in three sets for the bronze medal, falling 23-25 in the first set before storming back with 25-18 and 15-8 wins.
The Cougars trailed 20-11 in the second set but fought back with Mercedes Minck's strong service game.
During the preliminaries, the Cougars finished second in Pool B with a 2-1 record, losing only to the Polars (3-0).
After finishing atop Pool C in the round robin the Correlieu Clan (3-0) dropped their crossover game and ended up losing the fifth-place game to the host Roadrunners 25-20, 25-21.
Carson Law led the Roadrunners on the court with her strong leadership abilities, while providing offence and defence for her team. Kelly Road finished second in Pool A with a 2-1 record - Houston Christian was first, while the D.P. Todd Trojans were third.
The remaining teams in the 12-team tournament were: Duchess Park Condors, D.P. Todd Trojans, Cedars Eagles, Fort St. James Falcons, Caledonia and Nechako Valley (Vanderhoof).
Next weekend the senior girls from PGSS and Duchess Park travel to Vernon for a volleyball tournament, while the Trojans host their own event. On Nov. 11 and 12, the Polars' host their annual invitational tournament.
