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Sports Oakville Beaver DENTURES COMPLETE DENTURE $ 349 ea. 905-842-8209 LIMITED TIME OFFER SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 255) Fax 905-337-5567 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2008 33 Senior Devils, junior Raiders through to volleyball semis By Jon Kuiperij BEAVER SPORTS EDITOR Two Oakville schools remain in contention for Halton high school girls' volleyball championships, following quarter-final playoff play Thursday. The Oakville Trafalgar Red Devils were the lone local squad to survive the senior quarter-final round, easily downing the Nelson Lords 25-11, 25-16 at OT. In junior, the St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders earned a spot in the semifinals with a 23-25, 25-16, 15-10 victory over Nelson at Aquinas. Senior All the other senior quarter-final games were straight-set sweeps as well. The Georgetown Rebels took out the White Oaks Wildcats, the Acton Bearcats defeated Aquinas and the Assumption Crusaders surprised the Loyola Hawks. That sets up Tuesday senior semifinal matchups of Assumption at OT and Acton at Georgetown. Both matches are scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m. Red Devils coach Maria Seto is expecting a challenge from the Crusaders. "They've got a strong setter, a good power and a right-side hitter that is pretty solid," she said. "They're a good team and I have a lot of respect for them and their volleyball program. (Assumption) beat my senior boys earlier in the year, and they've got a great little junior team developing, so it should be a good matchup." Thursday, the Red Devils overcame the loss of their best hitter to oust the Lords. Jenny Pierce was sidelined for the match because of an ankle injury, but is expected back Tuesday. To fill the void, Seto moved middle Aly Torrance to Pierce's spot and shuffled some other players around. "We played really well as a unit and everyone took responsibility for the game," Seto said. Aquinas' elimination in Acton came a few days after the Raiders were finalists at the All-Catholic championships in Ottawa. Coach Peter Szpakowski felt his team might have been flat, especially knowing that it had already qualified for the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations double-A tournament. "We just weren't ready," he said of the Raiders' 25-11, 25-18 loss. "We were totally out of sync." Aquinas was the lone double-A school to reach the quarter-final round, earning the OFSAA berth. Acton is a single-A school. Junior The junior Raiders will be at home to Georgetown in their semifinal contest Tuesday (3:30 p.m. start), but that doesn't mean they're the favourite. Georgetown has yet to lose a game this year, but was the second seed in the Richardson Division standings because Assumption did not even lose a set. The Raiders, meanwhile, were 9-1 this season. "I'd say it's a saw-off," said Szpakowski, who assists his brother Ron with the junior club. "With their club kids, they're always good and have such a tradition. But it's nice to be hosting." Assumption will host Bishop Reding in the other semifinal. Assumption defeated the Holy Trinity Titans 2-0, Georgetown downed White Oaks 2-0 and Reding edged the Loyola Hawks 2-1 in Thursday's other quarter-finals. "Loyola had a good year. That was the big surprise," Szpakowski said. "Assumption is probably the favourite (to win the Halton junior title)." Halton finals will be contested next Thursday (Feb. 21) at Sheridan College. LIESA KORTMANN / OAKVILLE BEAVER UP AND OVER: Oakville Trafalgar's D.D. Dionisio (right) spikes the ball over a pair of Nelson Lords defenders Thursday at OT. The Red Devils defeated the Lords in straight sets to advance to the Halton high school senior girls' volleyball semifinals. Three medals for Edge Oakville Edge synchronized skating teams won gold, silver and bronze at the Cupid's Capers competition, held earlier this month in Newmarket. The high-performance pre-juvenile team won its third gold medal of the season, claiming top spot in the Gold final. The squad earned 19.13 points with its performance of The Muppets, finishing well ahead of Sparkling Ice of Unionville's 18.80 point total. The pre-novice team posted strong scores in both its free programs, earning the silver medal in the Gold final with a well-choreographed program of Charlotte's Web. The team's final score of 23.79 points was only .01 points behind gold-winning Kingston's Ice Inspiration. Rounding out the medal haul was the pre-juvenile squad, which earned its first medals of the year with a third-place finish in the Silver final. Skating to a Jackson Five theme, the team earned 13.11 points. Pickering Ice Rockets won the event with 13.99 points, with Kingston's Ice Imagination placing second with 13.33. "The Oakville Edge coaching staff has done a marvelous job choreographing winning programs as well as training and motivating our skaters to achieve their peak performance levels," said Oakville Edge chair Colleen Flanagan. "We at the Edge have all the makings of winning teams." DOUG SHELLEY / SPECIAL TO THE OAKVILLE BEAVER THIRD GOLD: The Oakville Edge high-performance pre-juvenile team goes through its performance of The Muppets, an effort that won gold at the Cupid's Capers competition in Newmarket recently.