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EPC Predators volleyball wraps up

Both boys and girls senior teams look to come out strong in 2023

ATHABASCA – A respectable fourth place finish at the North Central 3A Zone Volleyball Championships in Westlock Nov. 18-19 was actually a hard pill to swallow for the Edwin Parr Composite Predator boys volleyball team that collected two gold and two silver medals at other tournaments they competed in earlier this season. 

The Predator boys came up against the two titans of the north central zone this year in R.F. Staples and Barrhead Composite who both went on to provincials. The Preds fell to RFS in three hard fought sets in their first match, which unfortunately put them up against the always formidable Barrhead squad sooner than they hoped in the semifinal, said coach Sean Morrison in a phone call last week. 

“It kind of is what it is,” he said. “We lost to Westlock in the round robin which meant we faced Barrhead earlier in the tournament, so that was where a big disappointment came.” 

The opening loss didn’t deter them from dominating their other opponents in Pool B, taking out teams from Whitecourt’s Hilltop High School and Edson’s Parkland Composite in two sets each, to take second in the pool. 

The Predators played Barrhead to the last point in the semi but fell just short, then bowed out to Morinville for the bronze medal. 

“That's why you play them all. We have four top teams in our zone, it’s pretty tough. I know the other semi went three ... so pretty tight games, but you know what? It's good. We had a great team, so I can't complain,” said Morrison. 

Incidentally, Barrhead ended up winning the 3A provincial championship in Edmonton last weekend. 

It puts the cap on what was actually a great season for the Predator boys, said Morrison. 

“Our season was quite good, other than two tournaments, we reached the final in every tournament we played in and won two of them,” said Morrison, noting gold medals in Whitecourt and Devon, then silver medals in Lacombe and Spruce Grove. 

With that behind them and most players expected to return for the 2023 season, after competing in club volleyball in Edmonton during the offseason, which Morrison also coaches, the prospects are looking good for the team for next year.  

It’s the kind of foundation, girls coach Shane Barr said he hopes the Predator girls established this year, after a tough season on the court which culminated at the girls’ side of the zone championships in Morinville Nov. 18-19, where, despite their best efforts bowed out of the tournament following pool play, losing all their matches. 

“We had a couple close matches, with a heartbreaker I’ll call it, against Barrhead in a third set,” said Barr in a phone call last week. “Our one match against Edson was a tough one. We’re a young team, half of them are Grade 10s and their team was all Grade 12s, so they were a little more put together than we were, and that’s a tough match to win.” 

From Day 1 of the season, until the last ball dropped at zones, Barr said he has seen “a massive improvement” though, and after a couple years off the court for most of them, getting used to the more fast-paced senior high game took some adjustments. There’s a lot of potential there, which bodes well for the future, he added. 

“The improvement from the beginning of the year to the end of the year was an astronomical kind of thing, but the nice part is a lot of the team plays club volleyball. Some of them in Westlock, and some of them are trying in the city, so the passion for the game is there and they're trying to keep playing and improving, which is good to see,” said Barr.  

That experience, he added, along with a crop of talented Grade 9 players coming up through the system will hopefully translate to better results for the girls next year. 

“So next year, they’ve got a few more months of experience under their belt and a little more time just practicing and learning so that when next year comes around, things can get off to a good start.” 

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