Neither Athabasca team made the championship round of their home tournament, but it was still being classified a success by organizers.
The Edwin Parr Composite (EPC) Predators senior boys and senior girls volleyball teams were not able to overcome some difficulties on the weekend, with both ending up on the consolation side of their respective draws.
For the boys, it was the fact their star player – Max Elgert – was missing from the lineup that had the rest of the roster dazed and confused.
The opened up pool play on Friday losing to Ecole Beausejour from Plamondon and then to Thorhild, both in straight sets. They did manage a victory over Mayerthorpe in their final round robin game, but that only insured they would finish third in their pool and a bye into the B-side semifinals.
The Predators lost that match to Ecole Plamondon, who went on to win the B-side title.
“We got off to a poor start,” said head coach Chad LeMessurier.
“I was definitely disappointed that some of our players didn’t step up to fill that void with Max gone. It was certainly a goal of ours to see how well we could play and we missed out on that opportunity.”
With one team missing on the boys side, the Predators did play a couple of extra matches later on Friday.
“I was happy to see the boys want to play and benefit from those extra matches,” he said.
“And overall, I was surprised at how our middle attack improved over the weekend. It was a good step forward in that regard.”
For LeMessurier, there will be a lot of work done at practice this week for his club as a result of the effort on the weekend.
“We need to find our feet and work hard as we will see a lot of the teams we will face at zones when we play in the Hilltop (Whitecourt) tournament this weekend,” he stated.
Girls in tough
Things were even tougher for the senior girls, having almost half their roster gone as a result of a school-sponsored trip.
That meant the Predators had only the minimum six players available, though head coach Lance Gyte said they did an admirable job. In addition, he had no junior girls that could play as they were filling in for a team that was unable to make it.
The team did finish third in their pool on Friday, falling to Ecole Beausejour and Thorhild before defeating their junior varsity team.
They beat Vilna on Saturday to advance to the B-side semifinal where they lost Boyle in three sets.
“For just having six of them, they played fabulous,” Gyte said. “They did have that inconsistent play which has plagued us, but they got better each time out, and the junior girls also improved every time they got on the court.”
The girls will get a chance to work on things as they take a weekend off.
Nice attendance
As far as the whole tournament was concerned, LeMessurier was very pleased.
“The atmosphere was fantastic and we got so many compliments about the town and the facility,” he said.
“It’s a feather in our cap when we can bring about 600 people through the Multiplex doors for an event like this. And it’s also a victory for our community, because people not only raved about the building but also about Athabasca.”
