The incredible run for the Vanier Vikings ended in memorable fashion on Saturday night in Melville.

Just four days after winning the Moose Jaw League championship, the Vikings pulled off a three-set win over Osler VCA to capture the SHSAA 4A Boys Volleyball Provincial Championship.

It's the first provincial volleyball championship for Vanier Collegiate and just the fourth boys' title won by a Moose Jaw school.

"It's absolutely an amazing feeling, it will take a couple of days for the reality to set in as to what the boys accomplished, but everyone involved in our team, our coaching, the kids and their families, and everyone involved in our school is just so proud of the boys," said Vanier head coach Levi Broda.

The championship win was a bit of revenge for the Vikings as well, as they had lost to Osler VCA in their final round-robin game to start the day on Saturday.

Vanier was able to learn from that loss and put together a great game against Osler VCA in the final.

"I was really proud of the way the boys adjusted when we got to meet [Osler] the second time and we definitely had our grade 12s step up for the final, they were a much hungrier team than we were in the morning," said Broda. "We had a little adversity for that morning game, a couple of injuries we were dealing with and it was just nice to see everyone step into new roles and compete, and even though it was a loss in the morning, it really set up the day well for us."

Vanier pulled off a two-set win over Lumsden in the quarter-final and topped La Loche in two sets in the semifinal to set up the rematch with Osler in the final.

The Vikings stormed out of the gates with a 25-16 win in the first set, but Osler struck back in the second set with a 25-16 win of their own. That set up a deciding third set, which Vanier eventually pulled out a 15-13 win in to capture the provincial title.

"That's the way a provincial title should be decided, it should be a close game, and all I can think about is how long some of those rallies were, it was just back-and-forth, both teams wouldn't let a ball drop to the ground, it was unbelievable, the final could have gone either way and we were very fortunate to come out with the win," said Broda.

The win was special for Broda as Melville is his hometown, which provided Vanier with some tremendous crowd support during the final. "The Melville team was cheering for us pretty loud in the final and it was just a really special moment for me and my family, it was really cool," said Broda.

As for the team, Vanier came into this season on a mission after losing in the league final and the provincial quarterfinals in 2017. They learned from that experience to come back stronger.

Over the course of the 2018 season, the Vikings went 49-8 overall with their only loss coming against Balgonie Greenall (5A champs), Yorkton, Dauphin, Swift Current, Garden City, Estevan, and Osler in the morning game. They posted a perfect 12-0 record on their way to their first league championship since 2009, sweeping the final in three straight sets.

"Truly, these are kids who are good kids, they're super coachable, they're not club volleyball kids, they're getting antsy for basketball, but they're committed to volleyball and stuck it through," said Broda. "We have a lot of strengths on our team from the libero position to our setter to our outside hitters, we just do a lot of things really well and it shows that the kids commit to their training and they listen to their coaches and it paid off for us."

It's been a special volleyball season for Vanier as a school with the senior boys and girls teams winning the league titles, as well as the junior boys' team coming away with the city championship.

"Everybody has been so invested, Melville did an amazing job with the live stream and we had so many people tuning in to watch us play," said Broda. "It affirms that we do have kids that can learn the game, that if you trust the process, you can develop into elite athletes and be an elite team, and it was just a thrill to be with the team and watch them play at this point."

The Cornerstone Falcons were also at the 3A Boys Volleyball Provincial Championship in Oxbow. They made it into the bronze medal game before falling in three sets (25-18, 25-20, 15-9) to Waldheim to finish in fourth place.