The Merritt Secondary School’s senior girls volleyball team was nothing short of “fang-tastic” at the Desert Classic Invitational Volleyball tournament, as they swept away the host Osoyoos Rattlers twice and all their other opposition on the way to a first-place finish in the 10-team tournament on the weekend.
In pool play, the Lady Panthers defeated Princeton (25-9, 25-10), Boundary Secondary from Midway (25-10, 25-16) and the Rattlers (25-9, 25-12) in straight sets.
In crossover action, Merritt Secondary knocked off Summerland 25-11, 25-12 before disposing of the Rattlers once more in the semi-finals, 25-13, 25-12.
The Panthers capped off their perfect weekend with their sixth successive straight-sets win, 25-17 and 25-15, in the tournament final against Surrey’s Regent Christian Academy on Saturday afternoon.
“The girls played very well,” said MSS head coach Dwayne Suzuki. “One goal we had set for the tournament was to take advantage of free balls, and to finish rallies with kills. We accomplished that. Our passing was excellent, which led to having more than one option on the attack.”
Suzuki went on to say, “Our coverage on the court in defence was also excellent, as was the girls’ transition to offence. I’m really pleased that the girls played their own game and didn’t let their opponents back into any matches.”
Individual game stars for Merritt were Sabrina Samra for serving and Kaitlyn Suzuki for her passing. Fallon Fosbery, Karlie Sloan and Claire Burnham were all strong on the attack.
The Panther girls returned to league play in Kamloops this week. Their next tournament is on the Nov. 2 weekend at Fulton Secondary in Vernon.
