Spike It Hot!

    Volleyball has been around since 1895 when William Morgan first thought up the basic rules of the game while he was attending a YMCA college in Springfield, Massachusetts. Today the game is played in 220 affiliated federations and is the largest international sport federation in the world.
    In Leduc a ladies league has been established since 2006. What began as six teams playing in school gyms has advanced to 15 teams playing once a week at the LRC. The popularity of the sport continues to grow and hopes and plans are to add five more teams in the near future. The league generally plays from December to March/April.
    For the fourth year in a row the league hosted a major volleyball tournament called “Spike it Hot!” on January 19th & 20th. The tournament has grown from a 21 team affair to a 28 team event this year, with hopes of increasing to 32 teams next year. The tournament has become very popular drawing lady volleyball teams from all over Alberta and as far west as Dawson Creek BC.
    The tournament placed four teams into the 7 different Pools. On Saturday the teams play a round robin series of games with the teams in their Pool. The top two teams advanced to a Competitive Round along with the two best third place teams. The rest of the teams then played an Intermediate Round. The Competitive and Intermediate rounds were played on Sunday. Every team is guarantee five games with the winner of the Competitive Round playing seven games over the weekend. 
    Action is continuous on five different courts and would not be a success if it were not for the countless volunteers that help as sponsors, scorekeepers, line judges, and minding the tables for the Silent Auction, which is held in conjunction with the tournament.
    This year the Golden Girls took the Competitive Round winning seven games to victory. The Intermediate Round was won by a team from Dawson Creek, BC.