The Olds Koinonia Christian School Royals senior boys' and girls' volleyball teams have one more tournament each to attend before they prepare to host their own tournament Nov. 2-3.
Athletic director Ken Terpstra says the boys stand a good chance to possibly win both tournaments, as they're strong and skilled. But the girls need some work.
As of last week, the girls were 1-1 in the league and tournaments.
"I think they have potential, but they're probably kind of just middle of the road, upper middle of the road maybe right now," Terpstra says.
He says the girls have "a little bit of height" and some "good, young players."
But they need to work on their digs -- what Terpstra calls their "scrambling."
"Sometimes with volleyball, you're trying to set up a good hit or whatever and if it doesn't go the way you want, the ball comes back right over the net," he says, adding the girls have to learn to hustle for that ball; anticipate where it's going and dive to dig it back up and "not give up on a play."
"They're a young team; a little bit of a younger team, so I think that's probably their strength for the future, I would think," Terpstra says.
As of last week, the senior boys had a 2-0 record in league play. "In the league they'll be strong; I think the top team in the league," Terpstra says.
"The senior boys team is a good mix of more experienced and less experienced players," Terpstra says. "Although we lost a large group of Grade 12 players from last year's team, it has been great to see new leaders emerge as this year's team continues to grow and develop into a strong team."
They proved their abilities by winning a tournament at Wheatland Crossing, near Strathmore a couple of weekends ago.
"They're going to be fairly strong. I think they'll have a good run at zones," Terpstra says. "Their goal is to get into provincials this year again and I think they have a good chance of doing that."
This coming weekend (Oct. 12-13) the senior boys are at a tournament in Eckville.
"That's a tougher tournament, but I think they'll be up there in the top," Terpstra says.
That same weekend, the senior girls will be competing in a tournament in Acme.
"That'll be a good test as well, because Acme's always quite strong and there'll be some good teams there," Terpstra says.
