R.F. Staples JV boys volleyball team came up just short of winning gold at their annual invitation junior varsity tournament Sept. 14-15, falling to the Thorhild Bulldogs in two close sets.
Organizer and boys head coach Dean Fagnan thanked the parents and friends of the athletes for coming out to watch them play and praised his squad for their grit and determination in claiming the silver medal of the 20-team, boys and girls tournament.
“Thorhild had a bunch of Grade 12s on their team and the only Grade 11 student we had just had his wisdom teeth out, so we were playing with all Grade 10s,” he said.
“They worked hard and fought to the very end, so I couldn’t be prouder. They had chances to quit, but they never did. They just kept clawing and battling.”
Noting the T-Birds had literally only two practices before throwing themselves into the fire, Fagnan figured they simply needed more time to gel to work out any kinks in their game.
Hilltop High School out of Whitecourt took bronze on the boys side and won gold on the girls side, with Morinville Community High School taking silver and Barrhead Composite High School claiming bronze.
Making the playoff cut but falling short in the quarter final were the St. Mary Sharks senior girls team, who finished third in the round robin but hit the wall against Kinuso.
“We came into this with a lot of young players, so we’re pretty happy with the results,” said head coach Ty Snell. “We had a bit of trouble with some of the older, more experienced teams. We were talking a lot better, we served very well and overall it was a pretty good weekend.”
Meanwhile, the Sharks boys and T-Birds girls were eliminated in the round robin. Sharks boys head coach Vance Nakonechny was in good spirits in spite of the rough showing, noting the season was young and he was encouraged by what he saw on the court.
“Today we only had six players, so it was definitely a learning experience for the boys,” he said. “We went to the third set in every match, so we were right in there. We probably lost our three matches out of a total of six points, so we’re not that far off from the competition.
“It was a good eye-opener for us and it helped us learn what we need to work on this season. But they battled hard the whole time.”
Likewise for T-Birds girls head coach Andy Boissonnault and assistant coach Jessica Carlyon, who highlighted their team’s positioning and energy levels as a strong indicator of where they could go.
“We wanted to work on the basics and get everyone comfortable playing,” said Carlyon.
“We only had two practices going into this and we’re infinitely better than we were on Tuesday.”
The T-Birds will have another shot this weekend, with the boys heading to Redwater and the girls off to Thorhild for tournaments.
The Sharks girls will also be heading to Thorhild while the boys are back to practising until they host their own tournament Oct. 19-20 at the Rotary Spirit Centre.
