For the second tournament in a row, the St. Mary Sharks senior boys volleyball team walked off the court with a gold medal in hand.
The weekend’s tournament at St. Mary School had the Sharks go undefeated, rising to the top for a second-straight tournament, following their first gold-medal win last weekend in Barrhead.
“Basically, everything was two sets so we didn’t run into any problems at all in the round robin,” said coach Vance Nakonechny.
The Sharks placed first overall in the five-team round robin, pairing them against fourth-placed Wetaskiwin JV squad in the semi-finals. St. Mary took the match 25-20 and 25-18, sending the team to finals against Hinton’s Gerard Redmond Raiders.
The Sharks had beat the Raiders earlier in the day, but faced a bit of a challenge in the finals.
“They played very well. They improved quite a bit throughout the day,” Nakonechny said about the Raiders. “They led for most of it, then we wound up coming back right at the end and we beat them 25-20.”
The second set went to the Sharks with a score of 13-9, which is not a typical score the end a match, but due to unforeseen circumstances, the game had to be called.
“One of our players had hit their spike, it went off one of the players on their side and went straight up into the roof and hit a light grate,” he said. “The grate swung loose and was hanging there, so the two coaches along with the ref kind of thought, well, once that metal grate falls, that could hurt somebody.”
The coaches and referee called the match in favour of the Sharks, since the team won the first set and were leading in the second.
“It was kind of an anti-climactic way to finish,” he said, but added it demonstrated good sportsmanship on both sides.
Going undefeated, Nakonechny said the boys were not challenged enough throughout.
“Sometimes you play down to the level of your competition and you know, we weren’t really challenged a whole lot over the course of the day,” he said.
“A good lesson for the boys is just to play every point at a time and not get caught up with expectations.”
Despite the challenge-level being low, he said the team played well, with a strong offence throughout the tournament, adding that the three Grade 12 students, Mark Ritter, Taylor Doblanko and Sawyer Doblanko, were the standouts.
“We’re definitely playing well but we still have room to improve,” Nakonechny said. “These two gold medals were against easier competition so I hope the boys don’t get too confident.
“But the signs are definitely pointing in the right direction.”
The team will face tougher competition at the 2A tournament in Fort Saskatchewan Oct. 21 and 22.
The St. Mary Sharks girls volleyball team walked away with a fifth-place finish at the team’s second tournament of the year.
They played in the eight-team tournament in Redwater over the weekend, where they faced some tough competition.
“The games were really close,” said coach Caitlyn Swaren. “Against Parkland, it was 26-24 and 25-21, so we were pretty even with most of the teams.”
The Sharks made it to the consolation finals, where they lost. Despite the defeat, the young team is improving each week, Swaren said.
“Our girls communicated more so than they did last weekend, which is good. They just worked as a team,” she said.
At the tournament, the team faced a minor hiccup with setter Janessa Regnier getting injured and having to leave before taking the court in the consolation finals.
“So I made one of our girls setter and she did really well for her first time in that position,” Swaren said.
The club’s next tourney is in Fort Saskatchewan Oct. 21 to 22.
