Spartan JV volleyball tips off at home

By Tyler Lowey, Times Reporter

The Strathmore High School junior varsity volleyball programs kicked the season off with their annual hosted tournament.
Both boys’ and girls’ teams performed well with the added comfort of sleeping in their own beds at night rather than on a hotel mattress for their first weekend of competition at the high school level.
The lady Spartans battled back after an opening match loss 2-0 (23-25, 12-25) to the Acme School Redmen with a sound thumping of the Oilfields High School Drillers 2-0 (25-18, 25-14) Sept. 21
At that point in the tournament, the Spartans were tied with the Canmore Collegiate High School Crusaders at 1-1.
A win and the Spartans would have been in the driver’s seat in the pool heading into the semis.
But it was the Crusaders who held off several strong pushes from the Spartans.
The Crusaders grabbed the first set 25-22 and looked like they were going to coast to an easy victory in the second set when they at one point led 13-4.
Digging in on defence, the Spartans trimmed the lead to one at 22-21. During that point, the Crusaders pushed one across to end a long rally and never looked back. They took the second set 25-21.
The Spartans still had one more game on their agenda, as they knocked off the Redmen in the consolation final Sept. 22.
“We are looking forward to the year as we have a strong group with a ton of potential. We are looking forward to the season and attaining our goal of brining the junior varsity banner home to Strathmore High,” said Spartans Head Coach Carrie Westgard.
On the boys’ side of the bracket, the Spartans didn’t advance much further than the girls did, but they soaked in a lot of tightly played, three-set matches in their season opening tournament.
The Spartans dropped a three-set thriller Sept. 21 against the Springbank High School Phoenix 2-1 (26-24, 17-25, 12-15) and lost another tight one to the Olds High School Spartans 2-0 (23-25, 22-25).
“It was awesome to play in so many close matches and three-set matches. It’s extra development for these kids right off the bat and it was great to see how we performed in do-or-die points,” said Spartans Head Coach Darrell Hargrove.
The Spartans didn’t start the second day of the tournament off on the greatest note when they fell to 2-0 (16-25, 17-25) to the Highwood High School Mustangs. The Spartans rallied and closed out the round robin slate with a 2-1 (25-11, 24-26, 15-7) victory over the Canmore Collegiate High School Crusaders.
“We have an athletic crew this year with some good height mixed in. We are a smart team that is very technical, and when we put it all together, we will be a hard team to play against this year,” said Hargrove.
The Spartans closed out the weekend with victory in three sets (25-20, 22-25, 15-8) over the George McDougall High School Mustangs.
The Spartans will look to build off their hosted tournament this weekend when they travel to Brooks for another tournament.
Locals will have to wait over a month for the Spartan senior volleyball tournament, which is slated for Nov. 2 and 3.