The Hapnot Kopper Kweens soccer team started their season right last weekend, earning a win in their first tournament of the year.
The Kweens and Kings soccer teams both headed to Swan River Sept. 17 for the Swan Valley Regional Secondary School tournament, hosted by the Swan Valley Tigers. Each team would play a four-team round robin tournament.
The Kweens, playing in a draw against the Minnedosa Chancellors, R.D. Parker Collegiate Trojans from Thompson and the host Tigers, started their weekend with a 3-2 victory over Minnedosa. Later that afternoon, the Kweens would take a narrow 2-1 win over the hosts Swan Valley, scoring the go-ahead goal in the final minutes.
The only thing keeping the Kweens from a clean sweep in the round-robin tournament was their old northern rivals, the Trojans. In a hotly anticipated matchup, the Kweens would once again eke out a win, beating Thompson 2-1 and sweeping all comers.
In the coinciding boys’ draw, the Kings would face R.D Parker and the Tigers, as well as the Dauphin Regional Comphrensive Secondary School (DRCSS) Clippers. Starting the day against the Clippers at 10:30 a.m., Hapnot picked up a 6-2 win in the morning game, then faced R.D Parker immediately afterward at noon and won the battle of the north 4-0.
However, a third straight game, scheduled at 1:30 p.m., would be the Kings’ downfall. Facing the hosts in their third game with almost no rest, Hapnot lost 4-0 to the Tigers, picking up the school’s only loss of the weekend and finishing second behind Swan Valley.
The Hapnot senior varsity Kweens volleyball team also started their season with a southern tournament, finishing second in the round robin round but claiming victory in the end.
Hapnot’s season on the hardcourt began with the Warren Wildcats Invitational Sept. 9-10, pitting the Kweens against four southern teams. That tournament saw the Kweens take down Stonewall decisively 25-20, 25-8, beat Killarney 25-17, 25-15 and beat Teulon 25-19, 25-9. A 17-25, 24-26 loss to the host Wildcats kept the Kweens in second place in the round robin, behind only the hosts.
That set up a tournament bracket where Hapnot would catch fire, beating Stonewall 26-24, 25-10 in a semifinal to set up a rematch with Warren. The second game would go to a decisive third set, but Hapnot would head back up Highway 6 with a 25-17, 22-25, 15-11 victory.
