The R.F. Staples Thunderbirds are flying high this week after beating the Barrhead Gryphons for the 3A girls volleyball zone title in Drayton Valley.
It was a tough slog, coach Keith Szautner said, with the girls playing four games on Saturday before an emotional back-and-forth final.
“It was crazy,” he said. “We beat Barrhead in the first game 25-22, they beat us in the second game 25-20, and we beat them in the third set 18-16.”
The girls were pretty tired going into the match, having lost their first round-robin match against Barrhead at 9 a.m. They then had to play Whitecourt at 11 a.m., followed immediately by the quarterfinals against Morinville, the semifinal against Drayton Valley, then the final.
Despite both teams being a little worn out, Szautner said both showed some incredible perseverance.
“Both teams never quit. As happy as I am, I feel a little bad for them. It was one of those matches where both teams deserved to win,” he said. “There were some very tense moments.”
One of the big things the girls got right last weekend that helped them come out on top is getting the “big points,” Szautner said.
Earlier in the season, when faced with a tie right near the end of the match the girls were often losing those points and losing those games.
“Last weekend at home we played the big points really well, and won our home tournament,” he said. “Then this weekend we played the big points really well.”
There will be no time to rest, however, as the Thunderbirds will travel to Edmonton this week for 3A provincials, with their first game scheduled for Thursday morning at the Seville Centre.
In the past individual schools around the province have hosted zones in their respective categories, but this year is the 50th anniversary of the provincial playoffs. In celebration, the Alberta Schools Athletics Association has scheduled all the tournaments at the 25-court Saville Centre. There will be 92 teams competing.
“They’ve made it quite the spectacular event, so it was a great year to win zones,” Szautner said.
As for a tournament goal, he said just making it into the playoffs will be the first step.
“Once you’re in the playoffs, anything can happen.”
The senior boys volleyball team came home empty-handed from the zones in Barrhead last weekend, putting an end to their season.
After winning a sudden-death tie-breaker match against Onoway just to earn their berth in the quarterfinals, the T-Birds were stopped in their tracks.
“We lost out to Edson, and it was a real nail-biter,” coach Steve McKenna said. “Every game was basically resolved by two points.”
After splitting the first two matches, both with scores of 25-23, the boys lost the third and final match 15-12.
“We lost in three, but it was back-and-forth. It was really some good volleyball; both teams played really well,” he said.
Their troubles started fairly early on, with a disappointing match against Whitecourt in which things just didn’t seem to go their way.
“It was one of those games where what could go wrong, went wrong. We lost it in two to Whitecourt and had to play another game just to get in the playoff,” McKenna said.
The season has ended for this year, but McKenna said things are looking pretty good for next year. Roughly half the team will be returning, with roughly half those players being experienced starters.
