PORTSMOUTH — Team Madagascar triumphed over Team Canada in the Portsmouth High School 2024 International Volleyball championship match held march 15 in the old gym.

The tournament has been a tradition during the school’s Modern World Languages Foreign Language Week for more than 30 years and is celebrated in March, according to Lynn Hoegen, who chairs the Modern World Languages Department.

“In the past we have had up to 14 teams of eight to 12 students. Due to COVID restrictions, we had a break from the tournament and now the student interest is rebuilding,” Hoegen said in an e-mail.

This year there were eight teams, and participants had world language student captains who chose teacher or staff coaches, T-shirt colors and countries to represent the languages of study at PHS. Madagascar and Canada advanced to the championship match two days after a round-robin tournament.

“We hold a school assembly to watch the championship match between the two top teams and then there is a faculty-versus- student champion match,” she said. “It’s a really fun community event that involves many teachers, students and departments in the school.”

The tournament has help from teachers who enjoy coaching, playing volleyball and refereeing, providing music or announcing the championship match. Language Honor Society students help with scorekeeping and custodial staff help with gym setup. 

In addition to the tournament trophy, a Sportsmanship trophy was awarded to Team Guatemala, coached by Allison Guerreiro and captained by Alex Goss.