The R.F. Staples Thunderbirds senior boys volleyball team came out on top after a one-day, six-team tournament in Boyle last weekend.
Coach Steve McKenna said while it’s nice to come home with a gold medal, his main focus was to get each player as much time on the court as possible — and in that sense as well the tournament was a great success.
“All our guys got some playing time, and lots of it,” he said.
The T-Birds went undefeated through all five of their round-robin games. The top two teams after the round robin played for the gold — and in this case R.F. Staples won the battle of Westlock by beating the St. Mary Sharks in two-straight sets, 25-15 and 26-24.
“St. Mary played really well. They put up a really good fight and it was competitive all the way through,” McKenna said. “It was really great to see.”
But after six games in one day, McKenna said the boys were a little tired by the end of it all.
“That was part of the reason we entered the tournament, just the fact that we were going to get lots of playing time,” he said.
Winning the tournament was a good boost for the players’ morale, but McKenna said he focuses less on the end result and more on the process of how the team achieves it. Looking at the tournament from that perspective, he said the T-Birds did fairly well.
“At times we elevated our game,” he said. “At the beginning of the year in particular, the boys are just learning what they can do again and how to play with new teammates. All in all the effort was there.”
After having just had a handful of practices and one tournament under the belt so far, McKenna said they have done a very good job. That said, there’s always work to be done as they work toward the zone tournament, and hopefully a berth at provincials.
“It’s still the beginning of the year. Every aspect of the game has to be improved on,” he said. “It’s just a matter of getting more touches and more playing time. The guys will get there.”
