Nov 26, 2008 - 11:09 AM

PICKERING -- The Pine Ridge Secondary School Pumas played exceptionally well at the provincial senior boys' volleyball playdowns in Barrie recently, finishing fourth in Ontario.

The No. 10-seeded Pumas qualified for bronze-medal match at the 16-team Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) 'AAAA' championships where they played No. 2-seeded and defending provincial champion Glebe Collegiate Institute of Ottawa. The Pumas lost in the bronze-medal game 15-25, 15-25, giving Pine Ridge the 'antique' bronze medal.

The Pumas' fourth-place finish at OFSAA represented an improvement of six places over their seeding for the tournament.

Moreover, it was the best-ever finish for a Pine Ridge Pumas team in school history at OFSAA.

The Pumas opened against No. 7 Rick Hansen Secondary School of Mississauga with a 24-26, 26-24, 15-7 win. Pine Ridge then suited up against No. 4 Saunders Secondary School of London, which has captured the OFSAA 'AAAA' championship in four of the past five years. In two close games, the Pumas lost 20-25, 16-25.

In their final pool game, Pine Ridge played No. 13 Westdale from Ottawa and won 25-22, 21-25, 15-9, putting them in second in Pool 'D', which allowed the Pumas to advance to the championship round.

The Pumas played No. 5 Ursuline College of Chatham in the quarter-final and won 30-28, 19-25, 15-6. This advanced the Pine Ridge seniors to the semifinal against No.3-seeded Birchmount Collegiate Institute of Scarborough, which ended up being the eventual OFSAA champions. Pine Ridge lost 20-25, 12-25, but still earned a berth in the bronze-medal contest.

To get to OFSAA, the Pumas finished as Durham Region champs in Lake Ontario Secondary School Athletics (LOSSA) play this season. In the championship final, Pine Ridge defeated the Ajax High School Rams in straight sets on Nov. 13.

The Pumas' overall season match record was 42-6 with an outstanding record of 92 sets won and only 18 lost. Three of the team's match losses came at OFSAA to the eventual champions from Birchmount C.I., bronze medallists and last year's champions Glebe C.I., No. 4 seeded and previous OFSAA champion Saunders S.S. Two of the team's other three losses came to OFSAA quarter-finalists Grand River C.I (Kitchener) and Chatham Kent S.S. ('AAA' 'antique' bronze medallists).

In addition to a fourth-place finish at OFSAA, the Pumas won three tournaments (Durham College, Seneca College, Ajax HS) and made it to the semifinals in the McMaster University and the University of Guelph senior boys' tournaments.

Team members are Craig Dixon, Eric Fox, Qassim Wahab, Janoi Wright, Nathaniel Virgo, Adam Corless, Matthew Henchey, Jamal Laane and Daniel Popovic.

Mark O'Neill coaches the Pumas' senior boys' squad, assisted by Jennifer Bogart, George Burford and Jennifer O'Neill.