In their two tournaments of the season, the St. Mary senior boys volleyball team has placed no lower than second after taking silver over the weekend in Barrhead.
The Sharks were competing in the Sept. 20 JV Invitational at Barrhead Composite High School, and brought home the silver medal after falling to Barrhead in the championship match.
It was the second time the Sharks had played Barrhead in the tournament, and the second time they had lost, but coach Vance Nakonechny said the boys did well. In the end, however, the Sharks lost the match 12-25, 23-25.
“We were pretty solid in the first half (of the first set),” he said. “It was 9-9 at one point. They just pulled away on come strong serving.”
It was in the second set the Sharks showed they refused to quit, fighting to hold in there until the bitter end.
“The boys responded very well. I thought they showed a lot of character in the second set.”
They trailed early in the set, but battled back “to make a really good game of it,” he added.
With the Barrhead tournament being only the second one the Sharks have played this year, Nakonechny said the boys are still working on their game. However, they’re growing by leaps and bounds.
“Our movement and communication improved as the day went along,” he said. “It’s still relatively early in the season, but they’re starting to discover how good they can be when they play the system and they support each other.”
What stood out most about the boys’ performance at the tournament was how they forced Barrhead to work for the win in the second set of the final, Nakonechny said.
“It really helped the boys gain confidence,” he said. “Volleyball’s very much a game of momentum, and when you’re on the downside of that momentum, you don’t play very effectively.”
There were only four teams in the tournament — St. Mary, Barrhead, R.F. Staples and Edson.
The Sharks opened the tournament with a 25-18, 25-19 win over Edson, then lost their second match to Barrhead 15-25, 15-25. Their third match was a 25-12, 25-19 win over RFS.
In the semis, the Sharks faced Edson again, and won by the same 25-18, 25-19 score, setting up another rematch against Barrhead.
Up next for the Sharks is a trip to Redwater on Sept. 26-27 for a 1A/2A tournament. Nakonechny said that will be a good test as they’ll be taking on teams they’ll end up facing at zones.
