Next stop, provincials.
The Boyle School Huskies senior girls volleyball team continued their remarkable season by winning the zone championship last weekend.
They played five games at the competition and won them all to secure their trip to the provincial championships in Plamondon this coming weekend.
“The girls just had a great attitude and spirit. They played well and it looked like they enjoyed the game of volleyball,” explained head coach Michelle Lazenby.
“They just did what they needed to do.”
That involved finishing first in their pool with wins over Gerard Redmond, Thorsby and Parkland Immanuel.
The Huskies did well to place first in the pool, as later games would show it was the strongest in the competition. Both Parkland Immanuel and Thorsby would go on to beat their counterparts from the other pool, setting up rematches with Boyle in the tournament semi-final and final, respectively.
It was Thorsby that battled them for the championship. That was the only team the girls had prior knowledge of before the competition, so that familiarity may have helped them win in straight sets, 25-17 and 25-14.
In the last set, they stalled at 24 points for a little while as they gathered the focus and killer instinct needed to put away Thorsby for good and claim their championship.
Those who have followed the Huskies dominant season may have thought a trip to provincials was a foregone conclusion, but the girls themselves weren’t thinking that way.
“We were a little apprehensive as to what we were in for (at zones),” said the coach.
“I think they went in knowing that if they kept their confidence as a team and worked together, they would probably fare pretty well.”
Sure enough, they clinched their third consecutive trip to provincials. Last year they won silver at the event, but they’re not putting too much pressure on themselves to do as well or better this time around.
“Every year is a different experience at provincials,” said the coach.
“They know that level of competition and what it takes. It’s a lot of hard work and commitment... and peaking at the right time.”
