It was one heck of a run for the Boyle Husky senior girls volleyball team this past weekend at 1A provincials in Bassano.
The Huskies were less than five points from achieving the title of 1A provincial champions after falling to the St. Mary Auroras from Taber in the third set of the gold medal match Saturday evening.
The Huskies came away with a hard-earned silver medal.
They were defeated 15-10 in the third and deciding set by the Auroras, who came out of pool A in first place, while Boyle came out of pool B as the first-place team.
The girls from Boyle gave every ounce of strength, energy and effort they had during the weekend tournament and although they weren’t able to ultimately win, their run to the final said how much this team has put in and learned from last year’s trip to provincials.
The girls played in close games all weekend long and the final wasn’t any different.
Boyle dropped the first set 25-23 to Taber but rallied back in the second set for a 25-20 win to even the game up at one a piece.
The silver medal achieved this past weekend caps off an amazing season for the Huskies, who also won three gold medals in tournaments this year.
With only three Grade 12s on the team, this year’s experience of making it to the final will make next year’s Huskies that much better mentally, and if put in the same situation next year, the final result may be different in 2011.
The Huskies kicked off their tournament with the provincial’s opening match against the St. Thomas More Kodiaks from Fairview in impressive fashion.
The senior girls took care of business in just two sets against the Kodiaks, winning 25-13 and 25-17 respectively.
Next up were the hosts from Bassano, who were playing their first game of the tournament.
In three very tight games, the Huskies found themselves on the winning side for the second time in the tournament.
In what turned out to be the largest margin of victory in any of the three games, the Huskies took the first game from Bassano 25-19.
The second game belonged to the Broncos in a slim 25-21 win, and in the final game the girls from Boyle dug deep and took it by the smallest of margins in a 15-13 victory.
In the third match of the tournament on Friday, Boyle took on the Clear Water Academy Crusaders from Calgary and once again found a way to come out on top.
After dropping the first game 25-16 to the Crusaders, the Huskies came back with a vengeance and took the second game 25-20. In the third and final deciding game, the Huskies found their way past Clear Water by a 15-8 margin.
The Huskies perfect run in the round-robin portion of tournament came to an end against one of their Aspen View Schools rivals.
Boyle was defeated in two straight sets by H.A. Kostash, 25-13 and 25-22 Friday afternoon.
Thanks to a win over the Crusaders earlier on in the round-robin, the Huskies finished first in pool B, which meant a semi-final date Saturday afternoon.
Once the morning games wrapped up, the Huskies found themselves facing the only team that had beat them thus far in tournament, the H.A. Kostash Eagles.
This time Boyle would not be denied the win.
Unlike the first match, the semi-final went to three sets with the Huskies winning the first and the Eagles taking the second.
The third and final set belonged to the Huskies, as they were able to handle the pressure and the Eagles attack en route to a 15-11 win.
Prior to the Huskies trip to Bassano, head coach Michelle Lazenby’s main goal for the team was to acquire some much-needed experience against some of the best senior high, 1A volleyball teams after her team qualified for provincials last year.
Lazenby was unable to be reached for comment on the weekend’s games at the time of press.
The 1A south central provincials involved teams from all over southern, central and northern Alberta.
The Ecole Beausejour Lynx from Plamondon were unable to make it past the round-robin after four losses. They were defeated by the Standard School Rams, the St. Thomas Aquinas Angels from Provost, the St. Mary Sharks from Westlock, and the St. Mary’s Auroras from Taber.
