Local elementary schools in the Nicola Valley participated in a back-to-back volleyball tournament old Coquihalla Middle School gym. The contest marks the end to the schools’ volleyball season.

On Friday, December 9, five Merritt teams and one Princeton School headed to the CMS gym for a district volleyball tournament. There were two tournaments for the day, the morning contest saw Princeton Vermillion Forks win, while Merritt Bench Elementary won in the afternoon.

“We’ve been meeting two days a week at CMS and we do a playdate format where players work together to work on three-head play,” said Bench Elementary Volleyball coach Vince Kanigan. 

Kanigan explains that the players do a variation of volleyball called triple ball, a version similar to regular volleyball with only a few modifications to the rules: 

  1. a) The game follows a sequence of three rallies (served ball, tossed ball 1, and tossed ball 2). ·1st rally · 2nd rally  · 3rd rally – introduced by the server – introduced by a tossed ball directed to the RECEIVING team – introduced by a tossed ball directed to the SERVING team 
  2. b) The service alternates between teams after EACH three-ball sequence.   
  3. c) A team must rotate and introduce a new server when it is their turn to serve. 
  4. d) Each server only serves once, when it is their turn in the service rotation. 

“We want to build good volleyball habits among all our students so if they get to the high school level, they’re going to be ready to play.” 

The tournament marks the end of play for volleyball this fall season. Elementary schools now look to get ready for basketball season that begins on January.