Double silver

Times Reporter 

 

For the second season in a row, the Strathmore High School (SHS) Spartans varsity girls’ volleyball team were awarded silver in the league championship, falling to Okotoks’ Holy Trinity Academy (HTA) in four sets on Nov. 7: 25-18, 21-25, 25-11, 25-16. 

SHS had lost to HTA at home in season play on Oct. 21, by the same score, but with closer sets (25-22, 25-223, 22-25, 26-24). This is the Holy Trinity Academy Knights’ first league gold.

“We earned a silver,” Spartans’ girls Coach Randy Moncks said. “We just didn’t have much flow. I thought after the second game – we won the second set – we played well, we played aggressively against them. Then the third set, we struggled. We just couldn’t run our offense like we had to. That was too bad.”

A regular starter for the Spartan sprained her ankle in practice two days before the game, leading Moncks to switch up his lines.

“It wasn’t quite the same. We tried some different combinations, and it didn’t quite work. We just made too many mistakes at the wrong time. We struggled a little bit,” he said.

Moncks mentioned that the Knights had three good hitters; to avoid them, his plan was to serve tough and not allow them to set in the middle.

“We didn’t, we missed,” he said. “We made way more mistakes this time than we did against Strathcona Tweedsmuir (in the semi finals). In the third and fourth, they just sort of led. We had a hard time catching them. We tried to come back, but a little too late. Hopefully in zones in a week we have a chance to regroup, and to have some revenge against these guys.”

Zones will take place in Cochrane this year on Nov. 15-16; following that are provincials in Edmonton, where only one team from the south central zone represents. Moncks hopes it will be SHS.

“I hope so. It’s a long shot – Brooks is very strong, and HTA is very strong. There’s a lot of good teams there. We’ll have to play our best volleyball,” he said. “They just got to realize they have to work hard for every point, and stay focused.”

Only five girls returned from last season’s second place squad; the younger rookies stepped up this season to have a 5-2 season record. Moncks is still extremely pleased with the playoff finish.

“Every time we step on the court, I expect to win. I’m hoping that attitude carries over to the girls. Our program, I hope, is top notch, and continues to be in the future,” he said.

The junior Spartan boys volleyball team were league champions last year, and returned to the final on Nov. 6 in Vulcan to battle County Central High School (CCHS). A close matchup, Strathmore High School had a 2-1 lead, but lost in five sets: 26-24, 19-25, 23-25, 25-17, 15-12.

SHS had lost to County Central 3-2 during season play on Oct. 28 as well, and similar to the varsity girls champions, this is the first gold for CCHS.

“A couple players could consistently side out for them, and so in a five set match, that’s a big advantage,” Spartans’ boys Coach Cole Hintz said. “It was a tough matchup for us, they had a lot of older players. They’re bigger in some positions, and that gave them an advantage at different times in the match.”

For junior varsity level, players can be in Grade 11 or younger.

“We have a couple too; but our guys played well, they went on and they worked hard. They played a lot of defense, but at the end of the match sometimes you come out on the other end of it,” Hintz said.

Next year, many of the Spartans senior boys will be graduating. The varsity team may be comprised of mostly Grade 11’s for 2014; new talent will be needed for Hintz’s junior varsity squad.

“There’s supposed to be some good Grade 9’s coming in, so we’ll have some good Grade 10’s next year too. Hopefully, we can continue to build, and keep using our J.V. program to develop for the varsity team,” Hintz said.