Despite a short bench presenting a bit of a challenge, the R.F. Staples senior boys volleyball team came close to a gold medal in a 12-team tournament in Camrose last weekend.
The boys lost the final match to Barrhead in three games, with the boys running out of steam halfway through the match blowing a seven-point lead in the second game.
Nonetheless, Barrhead got a run for its money, which it ultimately won with scores of 23-25, 26-24 and 15-11.
“That’s pretty good news considering we only had seven guys,” coach Steve McKenna said.
“Two of our starters are sick with the flu so they stayed home this weekend. This can only boost their confidence considering we’re down two guys who are normally in our starting lineup, and we’re still in the final. We still gave Barrhead a run for their money.”
During the round-robin, however, despite a first-place finish McKenna said the team didn’t necessarily play to their full potential.
“The difference was we played to the other teams’ calibers,” he said, noting of the two pools, R.F. Staples was in the weaker of the two.
They turned that around and really ramped up their efforts in the quarterfinal by defeating Bawlf, a team that has challenged them in the past, by wide margins.
“The guys really stepped up and we beat them 25-13 and 25-11,” he said. “It wasn’t much of a contest, and they’re a good team.”
In the semi-finals the boys got another crack at Morinville, who defeated them in the final match of R.F. Staples home tournament Oct. 28-29.
“We dominated the first game; we beat them 25-16,” McKenna said. “The second game they beat us 25-19 then we beat them 15-9 in the third.”
The boys will have the weekend off before heading to the zone tournament in Athabasca Nov. 16-17, where McKenna said there is a great chance the boys will move on to provincials.
“The boys have been working hard for a chance at provincials, and I really do believe that this team is more than capable of winning zones and competing in provincials,” he said.
