Marie-Rivier Dragons enhanced their playoff hopes Tuesday, with a 3-1 high school senior girls volleyball win over the Bayridge Blazers.

The result was a bit of an upset, in that Bayridge, having won six of its previous seven matches, began the day 6-4, two games better than the Dragons, who used the victory to improve their record to 5-6. That allowed Marie-Rivier to stay two points ahead of Ernestown in the battle for eight place—and the final quarter-final berth that goes with it—even though the Eagles won their match Tuesday, 3-0 over the Granite Ridge Gryphons in Sharbot Lake.

Playing at Bayridge, Marie-Rivier won the first set 25-22, dropped the second to the home team 25-8, then claimed the victory with set wins of 25-15 and 25-21.

If the tie-breaker becomes necessary, Ernestown defeated Bayridge 3-2 on Dec. 10. Marie-Rivier closes its season Wednesday at Sydenham against the second-place Golden Eagles, while Ernestown's last match will be played Thursday, at Frontenac.

In other Kingston Area Secondary Schools Athletic Association senior matches Tuesday, the Holy Cross Crusaders improved to 9-2 with a 3-0 home-court win over the Napanee Golden Hawks; the Loyalist Lancers moved into a fifth-place tie with the Frontenac Falcons at 7-4 with an upset 3-2 win over the visiting Kingston Blues, and the league-leading Regiopolis Notre Dame Panthers defeated Frontenac 3-0.

Playing at Regi, the Panthers improved to 10-1 despite having what coach Pat Farrell described as “not a lot of flow to their game.”

Setters Annie Kennedy and Natasha Blanchet combined for 24 assists while Ashley Padvakis, according to Farrell, had her best match as a senior.

Play in the final week of the regular schedule resumes with the one match today at Sydenham. The playoff picture won’t come completely into focus, however, until the season closes with six matches on Thursday.