The College Park Jr. girls’ volleyball team won the district championship in Meadow Lake on Saturday. Back row left to right: coach Cory Gratton, Coach Courtney Kindrat, Haylee Willis, Jada Martens, Mia McGuire, Lexi Orbeck, Mia Brooks, Cody Gratton, Dalyn Steinhauer, Kalli Kuntz, coach Cerissa Steinhauer. Kneeling, Kaitlyn Cunningham; Lying down, Chloe Minish and London Guy. Supplied Photo
College Park junior girls’ volleyball coach Cory Gratton continues to bounce up and down with joy following the team’s Northwest District championship and league title.
The girls won the district in Meadow Lake on Saturday and the city league title contested at College Park the previous week over Holy Rosary and Bishop Lloyd to qualify for the district.
“Last year, we didn’t win the league and get to go to districts, so it was a nice finish for a number of our girls who were finally able to participate in those and win,” said Gratton.
College Park beat Bishop Lloyd in the finals, a team they played at least six times by Gratton’s count.
“We always managed to kind of split with them—we’d win, they’d win—it kind of went back and forth,” he said.
Bishop Lloyd was the runner-up in the district with Holy Rosary in third.
The district championship capped off an incredible season for the College Park girls with 34 wins and five losses including a string of 18 wins in a row, losing only two sets.
“That was quite an accomplishment too. Having an 18-game winning streak is not easy to do,” said Gratton.
“All of the teams in the leagues were much stronger than last year and the skill level has certainly improved among Grades 7-9.”
Gratton noted College Park doesn’t have a boys’ volleyball team this year, but the top team was Bishop Lloyd who defeated Holy Rosary.
The club season for boys and girls teams will kick off at the end of November and run until the end of April.