The season for the Voyageurs du Cégep de Sept-Îles in women’s volleyball and for a duo in badminton will continue for a few more weeks.
Head coach Yan Savoie’s women’s volleyball team had a perfect run on Saturday, at home, in the playoffs of its league, that of Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean/Côte-Nord (D2).
In pool matches, she did not concede any sets to her opponents, defeating Chibougamau (25-9, 25-23, 25-22) and Alma (25-18, 25-15, 25-19), carving out a place for the final against the Gaillards from Cégep de Jonquière, a team led by a former Sept-Îles player, Maxime Mimeault.
The Voyageurs also swept them, winning 25-23, 25-23, 25-21, thus obtaining their place for the Northeast Conference Championship which will take place on April 6 in Sherbrooke. Sept-Îles will then meet Limoilou in the first match.
“Very nice tournament at the end of the week! The girls arrived with great energy and they were confident in their abilities. The playoffs at home, with a crowd on our side, it was great and it gave us momentum », summarized the coach.
For the 2023-2024 season, Léonie Lebel was named to the circuit all-star team for the Voyageurs du Cégep de Sept-Îles.
On the men’s side, the Voyageurs came close to also having their pass to the Northeast Conference Championship.
In action in Jonquière, they signed two great victories in the preliminaries of the Quebec/Chaudière-Appalaches League (D2) series, defeating Lévis (25-23, 25-15) and Jonquière (25-14, 5-17). ), to find themselves in the semi-final. A victory against Beauce-Appalaches would allow the Voyageurs to extend their season by at least two weeks. In a very close match, however, a few small errors from the September team caused their loss, losing 23-25, 22-25.
Gabriel Cormier is the color bearer of Cégep de Sept-Îles on the league’s all-star team. Note that David Briand, originally from Sept-Îles, is the rookie of the year. He played for the Pionniers du Cégep de Rimouski, qualified for the Northeast Conference Championship.
Oh badminton
The Voyageurs duo from Cégep de Sept-Îles formed by Jérémie Stéa and Olivier Dion in badminton will be in the Provincial Collegiate Championship which will take place at Cégep Bois-de-Boulogne from April 19 to 21. The men’s pair ensured their qualification by finishing third during the Conference Championship which took place in Sherbrooke on Sunday.
After losing in the semi-final against the representatives of Cégep de Sherbrooke, Stéa and Dion returned to the match for bronze against the color bearers of Cégep de Granby.
They will be the first Voyageurs to take part in the provincial badminton since the team played in the Ligue Nord-Est/Centre-du-Québec.
Hopes were also placed on Alyson Dufour by coach Alex Couture. However, she lost in the third place match in singles. “However, she played good matches with sustained rallies and did not give up, despite fatigue,” he said.
Charles-Édouard Leclerc and Alexis Joseph were unable to find a place in the men’s doubles playoffs. “It was a difficult tournament for this duo in terms of consistency and intensity of play,” said Alex Couture.
He also wanted to make a special mention of the bad players from Sept-Îles who came to lend a hand to the coaches and who contributed to increasing the experience and level of play of his athletes during the season.
In basketball
The Voyageurs in basketball were also away this weekend. In a match without tomorrow on Sunday morning against the Gaillards de Jonquière, first in the season, the visitors were unable to hold on, despite a good first half. The team led by Denis Gagnon lost 75-47.
“The locals put their foot on the accelerator in the second half to widen too big a gap and leave with the victory. In this defeat for our Travelers, we learned a lot. Management of nervousness, tempo, emotions and fatigue. For this last of the season, I would like to congratulate all the players for their personal and collective development. With many first-year players, the expectations at the start of the season were much lower than the final result,” summed up the coach.
