Staff Writer
The Aroostook League Division II girls and boys volleyball teams met on March 20 and 21 respectively for the 2009 volleyball championships. The girls competition was held at Washburn while the boys met in Fort Fairfield. When all was said and done, the Lady Tigers defeated defending champions the Lady Beavers and the Fort Fairfield boys took their second consecutive championship win.
In Washburn, teams were split into two pools of five and each team played each other twice. Highlights from Pool A include the following matches. Washburn overtook Easton 25-9 and again 25-22. Fort Fairfield dominated Easton with two wins: 25-8 and 25-17. Fort Fairfield continued to win, beating CAHS 25-10 and 26-16. Last year’s champions, Washburn, met up with Fort Fairfield and lost as the Tigers took a 26-24 win and a 25-17 victory over the Beavers. Easton earned two more wins over CAHS, 25-18 and 25-19, while CAHS went on to lose to Washburn 25-19 and again 25-21. After Pool A had finished, Fort Fairfield advanced with an 8-0 record and Washburn moved on as well, having won 6 and lost 2.
Pool B had many close matches as well. Ashland took back-to-back wins over GHCA with scores of 25-15 and 25-20. Wisdom was victorious over Limestone 25-19 and 25-17 and Ashland continued to win, beating Van Buren twice, 25-23 and 25-19. Ashland’s winning streak continued with a 25-13 win and 25-21 win over Limestone. At the end of Pool B’s games, Ashland advanced with an 8-0 record while Van Buren, Wisdom, Limestone and GHCA all had records of 3-5. The four teams went up against each other to determine which one of the four would advance. In the end, Limestone advanced, after a 25-19 win over Van Buren.
In the semifinal play-off round, Ashland went up against Washburn and Fort Fairfield took on Limestone. Each game consisted of three matches, and the team with the best two of three advanced to the championship.
Washburn moved ahead in just two games, defeating Ashland 25-22 and again 25-17. Fort Fairfield beat Limestone initially 25-15 but after losing to them 25-21, a third game was held. After a 25-7 victory, the Tigers moved on to play Washburn in the championship, defeating the Beavers 25-22 in two back-to-back matches.
Volleyball tournament all-stars were selected by the coaches after each championship. After a unanimous vote, Courtney Churchill, Fort Fairfield, was the day’s MVP and first all-star. Following Churchill were: Arianna Babineau, Easton; Stacy Bernier, Limestone; Melissa Duffy, Katahdin; Kari Brewer, GHCA; Rachel Palmer; Washburn; Ariel Nappi, CAHS; Jennifer Ouellette, Van Buren; Taylor Baker, Ashland; and Krystal Paradis, Wisdom.
The Division II boys volleyball tournament was held at Fort Fairfield High School on March 21. Ten teams competed in the tournament, which was structured similarly to the girls 2009 Aroostook Championship. For the boys, in Pool A, Ashland went one-and-one against CAHS, beating the Panthers 25-9, then falling 25-22. The Bears defeated the Panthers twice, 25-18 and again 25-6. In their matchup against GHCA, Ashland won 25-13 initially and won again 25-23. Against Easton, Ashland won 25-18 but lost 25-23. CAHS took a double win against GHCA 25-22 and again 25-16.
At the end of all Pool A first round matches, Easton advanced with a 7-1 record as well as Ashland, who stood at 6-2.
In Pool B, defending champions Fort Fairfield defeated Washburn twice, 25-19 and 25-23. Limestone was victorious over Katahdin 26-24, then fell to the Warriors 25-15. Washburn fell to Limestone 25-21 then beat the Eagles 26-24. Fort Fairfield split with Limestone, winning 25-18 then losing 25-20.
In the night’s longest match, Washburn squeaked by Wisdom 29-27 and again 25-19.
As Pool B finished up their initial round, Katahdin advanced with a 6-2 record and Fort Fairfield and Limestone met up in a playoff game to determine who would advance, since both teams stood at 5-3. After a 25-8 win, the Tigers headed on to the semifinals.
Katahdin took on Ashland in three games, losing the first game to the Hornets 25-19. But a second game 25-22 win kept the Warriors in the semis and, with a 25-19 victory, Katahdin headed to the finals.
Fort Fairfield faced Easton in the semifinals and took the first win, 25-18. The Bears came back with a 25-20 win but the Tigers took the last game 25-17, advancing to the finals to face Katahdin.
In a three-game matchup, Fort Fairfield won the first 25-23 but fell 25-14 in the second. In a close third-game contest, Fort Fairfield took a 26-24 win and the championship, securing their second consecutive Aroostook League championship title.
Ian Towle of Fort Fairfield was selected as the tournament MVP. Other all-stars included: Parker Rossignol, Limestone; Kurtis Daigle, Wisdom; Ethan Qualey, Katahdin; Evan Spinney, Washburn; Derek Rossignol, Van Buren; Anthony Vangel, CAHS; Brad Trask, Easton; Chad Duff, GHCA; and Jeremy Tarr, Ashland.
Contributed photo/John McCrea
TAKING THE COURT for the Lady Tigers were, in center: Tabitha Sullivan. Back row, from left: Keegan Watt, Autumn Coombs, Brooke Beaulieu, Courtney Churchill, Whitney Clark, Kacie York, Samantha Lewis, Lindsay Graves and coach John McCrea.
Contributed photo/John McCrea
LEADING THE TIGERS to their second consecutive volleyball championship were, from left, in front: Ian Girvan, Ken Loperena-Hernandez, Matt Lemoine, Nathan McLaughlin and Adam Fox. Back row: coach Tony Levesque, Josh Churchill, Patrick Kinsey, Mark Pelletier, Doug Sharpe, Austin Dufour and Ian Towle.
