“The best team in the zone won.”
That was how Keith Szautner, coach of the R.F. Staples senior girls volleyball team, described his squad’s loss to the Barrhead Composite High School Gryphons in the 3A North Central Zone final Nov. 17 at R.F. Staples.
“The girls are disappointed,” he said after the T-Birds’ 18-25, 17-25 loss.
The T-Birds were the only team to win even one set against Barrhead all tournament, but unfortunately it was only one set, and it came in the final round robin match for both teams.
In the final, the teams were close through the first 26 total points of the first set, but Barrhead pulled away for the win. In the second set, Barrhead grabbed an early lead. The T-Birds fought back, but the deficit was too much and they simply ran out of points to give.
Despite the loss, Szautner said the girls played their best volleyball of the season over the weekend, highlighted by the mental toughness they showed when pushed hard by their opponents. He also said the team’s result bodes well for the future in that nine of the 10 players on the team should return for the 2013 season. Only Briana Carlyon is graduating.
“I expect us to be very good next year,” Szautner said. “I can’t feel too bad to have nine out of 10 return and we already made it to the zone final.”
In earning their berth in the final, the T-Birds first had to defeat Athabasca’s Edwin Parr Composite Pacers in the semifinals. That match was a tale of two sets. In the first, R.F. Staples won easily, 25-10. The second, however, was a nail biter. It came down to the T-Birds leading 24-23 with the Pacers serving. Faced with the task of setting her team up to prolong the match, the Pacers’ server sent her serve into the net, handing the win to Westlock.
In the round robin, the T-Birds started with a 25-23, 25-20 win over Morinville.
They followed that up with a clunker against Edson, falling 21-25, 13-25. It was a match Szautner said was a “lapse” against a good opponent.
Up next were the Pacers. It was a tight match that ended up foreshadowing the second half of their playoff tilt, but the T-Birds came out on top 26-24, 32-30.
Whitecourt was up next, but the T-Birds were up for the challenge, taking the match 26-24, 25-16.
A 25-18, 25-13 win over Drayton Valley meant the T-Birds were 4-1 heading into their final round robin match against Barrhead.
That Barrhead matchup was hard fought, with Westlock winning the first set to be the only team to win a set against the Gryphons. However, the Gryphons showed why they were the zone’s top team all season, rebounding to take the final two sets. In all, the final score was 25-22, 21-25, 9-15.
“Barrhead was aggressive and they kept us on our heels, but we made them work for it,” Szautner said. “We know what to strive for next year.”
