The Steinbach Regional Secondary School's reign as Provincial "AAAA" High School Varsity Boys volleyball champions came to an end Thursday night in Winnipeg.

The defending champs were swept 25-23, 25-21, 25-22 by the St. Paul's Crusaders in the provincial semifinals at the University of Manitoba's Investors Group Athletic Centre.

"Nobody wants their season to end in a loss but that's sport," said SRSS setter/right side hitter Eric Loeppky. "There's going to be losing teams and it just sucks. It's hard to stay positive about it but they played great and we didn't."

Loeppky, who will be attending Trinity Western University in Langley, British Columbia next fall, says they may not have given the Crusaders enough credit heading into the Final Four.

"I think lots of us came into the match thinking, we haven't lost to these guys yet. Why would we lose to them now. It happens all the time with underdogs."

It looked like the Sabres were well on their way right from the get-go as the SRSS built a quick 5-0 lead in the first set before St. Paul's head coach Lloyd Voth called his first time out to settle his team down.

And settle down they did.

The Crusaders were outstanding defensively and also took advantage of costly Sabres miscues that happened at the most inopportune times.

"They were prepared and energized," said Steinbach Regional head coach Henry Kasdorf. "The first set they came out a little flat but we didn't close out unfortunately. Momentum started to swing and we stopped passing. That's how the sport goes."

"Had it been a different night, maybe we would have come back and won this match but it wasn't and St. Paul's was a stronger team," added Kasdorf. "The season has been a huge success. With only four losses for the season - that's incredible. We've played very, very well all year long. We pushed ourselves and worked hard. Unfortunately we didn't get the result we wanted today."

The Crusaders will face Miles Macdonell in the "AAAA" final Monday night at IGAC.

The Buckeyes swept the Vincent Massey Trojans 25-15, 25-19, 25-17 in the other semifinal.