WESTLOCK — The St. Mary School (SMS) senior boys volleyball team are focused on winning a provincial title and will have an opportunity to do just that when they head to the 1A Alberta Schools’ Athletics Association (ASAA) Provincial Championships in Vermillion from Nov. 23-25.
The Sharks qualified for provincials after finishing in second place at the 1A North Central Zone Championship tournament Nov. 17-18.
The two-day zone tournament at the Rotary Spirit Centre featured eight teams from across the region and saw the Sharks compete in a total of six matches, which allowed for two provincial berths this year, including the first-place winner and a wild card spot.
The Sharks fell just short of taking top spot in the final against the Redwater Renegades, with the Sharks winning the second of three sets with scores of 25-18, 25-20 and15-11.
"We lost to them in the third game in the final. They took the first set, we came back and took the second set and they wound up taking the third set, but all three games were very close. The teams were very evenly matched,” said coach Vance Nakonechny.
Prior to the final, the Sharks finished second in their pool during the round robin with a 2-1 record. Incidentally, Redwater was also in their pool.
The Sharks went on to defeat Living Waters from Spruce Grove in the quarter-finals two games to none and then downed New Sarepta in the semi-final, again earning two straight wins to put them into the finals.
Nakonechny said that it’s “been a while since we’ve been (to provincials)” and for a number of years there was just one spot available for the zone — the zone winner, but that number recently changed, increasing the number of teams at provincials from 10 to 12, thus sending both the Sharks and the Renegades to the provincial championships.
This is the first year provincial ranking for 1A schools has been done, Nakonechny noted, adding that St. Mary School is currently ranked eighth in the province.
Nakonechny spoke of the team’s hopes and anticipation of the provincial championships with the possibility of winning a provincial title.
“We’re in the middle of the pack so we’ve got an opportunity,” he said. “We won’t really know (how good teams are) until we get there. Just because a team is ranked ahead of us, doesn’t mean that they’re necessarily better.
"I think the biggest thing for us to succeed is just to be consistent and work on our side of the net in terms of what we can control, so we can control how well we serve, how well we pass, our attack, our block,” said Nakonechny, noting how important communication on the court is.
“We generally play better when we’re more vocal on the court. When we struggle, a lot of times that’s when we try to play as individuals instead of as a team.”
The Sharks are looking forward to the opportunity to play against some of the best teams in the province, an experience that Nakonechny says is a “good accomplishment for our boys.”
“We’re really proud of the effort of the boys … playing very strongly in the second set (against Redwater in the Zone final),” he said. “It’s a good measuring stick for us going into provincials because all the teams are going to be that strong, there won’t be any easy games there.
“They’ve been a great group to work with this year so it’s nice to see them get rewarded,” Nakonechny concluded.
