A remarkable season reached its end last weekend for Edwin Parr Composite’s senior boys volleyball team.
The Predators were in Whitecourt for the provincial championship, where they won two of their five games, falling short of the playoff round.
“At provincials, it’s anybody’s ballgame,” said team coach Chad LeMessurier.
Ultimately, it simply wasn’t EPC’s.
“We didn’t come out our strongest,” said one member of the team, Neil Topola. “We hit our peak a tournament early.”
That’s a reference to the zone competition two weekends ago, which the team hosted at EPC. Though they lost their first few games, they refocused and went on a tear to finish second. But they were unable to recreate that momentum last weekend.
“We couldn’t get back up to that level.”
In their first game of the tournament, they lost to Louis St. Laurent from Edmonton in two sets. They followed that with a two-set victory over Queen Elizabeth from Calgary.
Next up was a two set loss to Spring Bank, followed by a thrilling three-set win over St. Paul.
That set the table for a must-win game against St. Joseph’s. But though the Predators came close, they lost in consecutive 25-22 sets.
That St. Joseph’s team wound up winning the competition, making EPC’s competitiveness with them all the more impressive.
And as LeMessurier noted, they were still ranked as the eighth best team in the province; no small accomplishment.
“It was a pretty positive weekend,” said the coach. “There were some strong teams there and we fit in really well. We definitely didn’t look out of place.
“We were playing volleyball on the absolute last day of high school volleyball in Alberta, so mission accomplished.”
The experience of provincials won’t soon be forgotten by the local boys, with its banquets and team pictures and the province’s best teams coming together to compete.
“This group really deserved to experience that. They worked hard for it,” said the coach.
It was made even more meaningful by the fact that the core of the team, including Topola, is graduating this year and won’t be back.
“It sucks it had to end the way it did, on a loss, but it was a good year,” said Topola.
It still won’t be easy for the team to go its separate ways, according to the coach.
“I’m going to miss this team. It’s a really good group,” he said.
Next year’s team will be short seven players from this provincial team, but the future looks bright for the volleyball program, and it will be brighter if the new team follows in the footsteps of this one.
“(This season) goes to show how much hard work and dedication can achieve.”
