It was a doubly satisfying Oct. 1 afternoon on the volleyball court in Spruce Grove for the senior Lady Gryphons, as they won the STA Classic tournament and beat their archrivals, the R.F. Staples Thunderbirds from Westlock in the process.
In fact, the win was even sweeter as they joined their male counterparts in victory at the same tournament.
The gold-medal match was the second time the Gryphons had met the T-Birds in the tournament. Much like their first-round meeting, Barrhead was too strong for their opponents, emerging victorious in two sets, 25-19 and 25-18.
Coach Kyle Becker said the girls were able to remain calm the whole match and keep in control.
“We had a good game plan against Westlock and we did a very good job executing it,” he said.
While he admitted the T-Birds had played two tough matches before their rematch with the Gryphons, Becker said his girls didn’t let up and took advantage of their opponents’ lethargy to claim the tournament title.
With the tournament win, Becker said he feels the team is right on target to have a chance to meet its goals for the year.
“We seem to be improving every tournament and we have a bit of confidence now,” he said. “We are ready for the next step of development and the work ethic and enjoyment still seems to be very high.”
He added that the tournament was an opportunity to see where the girls stood in comparison to some other 3A schools in the area. Their previous two tournaments had been primarily against larger, 4A schools, he said.
In order to get to the final, the Gryphons had to get through the round robin and playoff portions of the tournament.
Their first match saw them take on Wetaskiwin, and after a slow start, the girls were able to pull away and win the match in two sets.
Up next was Beaumont.
“We served tough and controlled the ball very well,” Becker said, and were able to emerge victorious, once again in two sets.
R.F. Staples was next up, and the teams couldn’t have been happier.
“Both teams were excited to play one another again,” Becker said.
There was no love lost, however, as the teams played close the whole way. The first set went back and forth, with the Gryphons managing to scrape out a win. In the second, it was the Gryphons who took control early and maintained the lead the whole way en route to another two-set win.
With Camrose as the quarterfinal opponent, the Gryphons took no prisoners, defeating their foes in two sets, setting up a meeting with Memorial from Stony Plain.
That would prove to be the toughest challenge the Gryphons faced. After taking the first set, Becker said the girls started looking ahead to the final. This gave Memorial the opening it was looking for, and they took it to tie the match at a set apiece. In the third set, the Gryphons needed all the resources they had, as they trailed 4-8 and 7-12 before rallying and winning the set and the match, giving them another shot to best the T-Birds.
