One of the territories more popular volleyball events, the 41st annual Dawson Invitational Volleyball Tournament (DIVT) played out this weekend at Robert Service School (RSS).

A quick editors note: I was supposed to head to this tournament and see first-hand all the hype surrounding it.

Unfortunately, the flight to Dawson got delayed by a couple of hours due to weather.

Thankfully, the Yukon Schools Athletic Association has posted the championship games on YouTube. So all you volleyball fans, go check it out. If any varsity coaches are reading this, take a look as well. There is some talent up here.

It’s a busy three days of volleyball at the RSS gym. Junior and senior teams participated and the tournament had representation from Pelly, Mayo, Carmacks, Watson Lake, Haines Junction, and the three Whitehorse high schools.

RSS P.E. teacher David Rawlings told the Star before the tournament that the students in Dawson were all excited for DIVT.

“Oh, my goodness,” said Rawlings. “It’s buzzing here. The kids are eating, sleeping and breathing volleyball. The vast majority at the school is involved in volleyball and everyone is helping in some way.”

The senior girls’ championship game saw the F.H. Warriors play the Porter Creek Rams. The game began on the right note with a long rally that set the tone early.

F.H. was strong on their free-ball passing and was able to run their offence out of all positions on the court. The Rams, always the scrappy defenders, played strong defence and it took a great deal of effort to score on them.

In the end, it was the Warriors who won the title of champion.

It was a back-and-forth game in the senior boys final between Vanier and F.H. The Warriors attacked every ball even if they were out of system.

The Crusaders were able to get their blocks up and on offence, they relied on their heavy hitters to score points.

At the final point, it was Vanier who took home the DIVT crown.

The Vanier junior girls team earned the school its second title of the tournament and the Porter Creek boys earned their second consecutive DIVT championship.