The Innisfail High School senior girls are storming through the season, remaining undefeated within their zone. The 3A volleyball team smashed a 10-year record of defeat Tuesday night when they beat Sylvan Lake during a league game.
“It was huge,” said coach Jeff Anderson. “It was like we won the zone championships even though it was just the league game — they were just so excited.”
The Lakers were 4th place provincial champs last year with every player on year-round club ball.
The girls were down five to six points in the first two sets and came back to win, 26-24 and 25-22. In the final round they controlled the game from start to finish, 25-10.
Anderson said strong serves and using the ball lead to their victory.
“They had one really strong hitter they couldn’t get the ball to because we served them so aggressive. She was a middle player and the setter couldn’t force the ball to her because we were pushing them so far back into the court. That was awesome.”
Also adding to their record was a win at the Chinook’s Edge School Division tournament and taking second at Bentley tournament in Bentley.
“We have four club girls that play volleyball pretty much year-round and four girls that love the game and worked so hard with their skills this year to become a very balanced team,” he said of the nine players.
The girls were in Springbank over the weekend for a tournament against top 3A schools in the southern division and play their last league game tonight against Camrose, the other undefeated team in the Central Alberta zone.
“It’s going to be a real battle,” said Anderson, who hasn’t seen the team play. The game starts at home, 7 p.m.