Some SDSSAA championship weekends carry far more drama than others.

With the high-school boys basketball and girls volleyball banners on the line – all ten of them – this past weekend, it was the Friday afternoon triple-header at Ben Avery Gym that most kept the assembled crowd constantly on the edge of their seats.

Meanwhile, over at Cambrian College on that same day, not one of the five city girls volleyball finals would extend to the maximum of five sets, serving notice that Sudbury will be sending a very solid contingent of talent through to NOSSA playdowns later this week.

The Horizon Aigles senior girls closed out the festivities, maintaining their hold in head to head matchups with the Champlain Requins as the Val Caron school completed the three-peat in four sets, 25-13, 25-23, 22-25, 25-22.

Recipients of OFSAA bronze and silver medals the past two years, the Aigles will head to Blind River to contest the NOSSA tournament on Thursday.

Horizon Aigles: Isabella Deschenes, Isabelle Renaud, Ellie Renaud, Selena Sauvé, Madison Paris, Reaghan Chamberland, Emma Perreault, Scarlett Parri, Jasmine Mills, Camille Barr, Patrick Gervais (coach), Lynn Mageau-Gauthier (assistant coach).

The Division II Senior Girls title would be claimed by the Collège Notre-Dame Alouettes, needing four sets to subdue the Macdonald-Cartier Panthères: 25-23, 25-27, 25-12, 25-6.

Picking up their first ever senior boys division I volleyball banner in the fall, ESMC added the junior girls division II title to the school resume, following a 25-21, 25-17, 25-22 sweep of CND.

“I feel that Macdonald-Cartier was very underestimated,” noted Panthères team captain and Chill Black Cyclones member Sarah Crittenden. “Now that we came out stronger than expected, people were a little shocked, maybe confused. But we have a lot of club players at our school and it now comes together to make us more of a volleyball school.”

Reuniting many of the same players who donned the ESMC colours a few years ago in grade seven, there is no doubt the crew has evolved under the guidance of head coach Brigitte Coutu.

“Our main focuses this year have been communication, covering, coming together as a team and having fun, not playing tense,” said Crittenden. “Whenever we played scared, we would never play our best.”

Macdonald-Cartier Panthères: Ariana Tonkovic, Kylie Breau, Alaina Paquette, Isabelle Bonish, Sophie Perron, Valérie Prévost, Tessa Roberge, Sara Labelle, Sarah Crittenden, Brodie Pearson, Ava Gigliotti, Elie Lopes and head coach Brigitte Coutu.

Joining the above trio in bringing banners back to their schools were the Lo-Ellen Park Knights junior girls (Div I – vs Marymount – 25-23; 25-21; 13-25; 25-15) and the Bishop Alexander Carter Novice Gators (vs Lo-Ellen – 25-16; 25-21; 15-25; 25-17).

Lo-Ellen Park Knights: Maggie Brady, Alyssa Amadio, Caelyn Mahoney, Abbey D'Agostino, Mattia Mullen, Adelina Naghi, Mila Beljo, Alissa Timusk, Jillian Fitzgerald, Lilliana MacIsaac, Gia Rocca, Sunny Dunlop and head coach Sherry Green.

Bishop Carter Gators: Miia Tuomi, Haven McGhee, Avery Farrow, Grace Landry, Avery Lewis, Martine Gaucher, Deisha Shaver, Mallory Desjardins, Jordyn Gillis and head coach Siobhan Dzuirban.