Spartans boys lose in semis; girls show improvement

Justin Seward
Times Reporter

 

The Strathmore Spartans senior boys volleyball team are continuing game in, game out to show they are perennial contenders to win the provincial banner in a few weeks’ time.
What was evident, however, in their home tournament last weekend was that they never gave up and looked as though they were on their way to the finals, but a couple missed opportunities cost them in a nail-biting semi-final in which the home team lost 16-14 in the third set to Medicine Hat High School.
“It was a good last match for us,” said coach Cole Hintz.
“Medicine Hat played really well. It’s nice to have those opportunities kind of at the end of the tournament to play in those very competitive matches where all the little points matter. It’s just kind of helps measure your team a little bit and sharpen those things that you take of granted. You need to be able to do the small things when it matters just so you can respond better in those situations.”
Hintz preached to his team throughout the tournament that they don’t need to be too high but have to be mentally engaged in every point and always have the mindset that every point is important to them.
He saw a lot of positives come of the semi-final match especially in the ability to come back.
“That’s how you measure your team,” said Hintz.
“It’s not the easy matches that allows you to see where you’ve grown. It’s the difficult ones, the ones that you lose that allows you to see what the medal of your team is.”
Now looking to zones in a couple weeks in High River, Hintz thinks his team at this point in the season knows they have worked really hard, but nothing will be given to them from teams in a very strong zone this year.
Senior girls head coach Randy Moncks, despite a fifth place, there was a lot of potential that the players showed which would help in rebuilding the program in the future.
“We continue to work hard,” said Moncks.
“Our offense is getting better. We’ve seemed to be able to generate a little bit of offense. Our passing has gotten to be so much better.”
He was pleased with the girls’ compete level as they have increased their point total to anywhere between 18 and 19 in a set, and he thinks that is a positive that can give them a chance by taking less errors.
“If we can stop all the unforced errors,” said Moncks.
“We have a run of three or four unforced errors. If we can just control that then hopefully we can build for next year.”
Moncks mentioned he hopes as a lower seed zones host in a couple of weeks that they can play spoiler as he feels if they continue to progress that there could be an upset.
“If we continue to communicate and work hard at practices and get a little more confidence,” said Moncks.
“It could happen that we maybe could upset a team and that would be the fun part of the whole zone experience I think this year for our team.”
Above all else, he wants the girls to have fun and continue to find consistency in their games as they hosts zones in a couple of weeks.