Innisfail’s senior girls volleyball team placed first over the weekend at the Chinook’s Edge tourney in Olds. The girls went up against and beat Hugh Sutherland from Carstairs and Didsbury in their round robin play, then crossed over to see Olds Koinonia, moving on to the semifinal where the girls beat Sylvan Lake and finally finished off with Sundre in the final.
“The league is fresh; we’ve only played three league tournaments,” said coach Jeff Anderson of where the team currently sits this season.
“We’re only starting to play some of our 3A schools. We’ve played some 4A schools already which is always a tough road to battle with a smaller school .... But we’ve played well. We took games off of both of them so I’m very, very impressed with the girls,” he said.
Over the September 24 and 25 weekend, the senior girls were at a tournament in Bentley and played in the finals against the Central Alberta Christian High School (CACHS). They started the day playing CACHS and lost 22-25 and 22-25 again. They went on to beat Lacombe JV teams 25-10 and 25-17, beat River Glen 25-10 and 25-7, bringing them up to second place in their pool where they met up with the Innisfail JVs and won 25-11 and 25-10.
They crushed Eckville in the semifinals 25-7 and 25-10, pitting them once again against CACHS in the finals.
Anderson said it was a close game and they split the first two games, losing the first 22-25 and winning 25-19 the next. They stayed strong 12-12, but ultimately lost 12-15.
This was the second year the team made it to the finals.
The JV girls, also up in Bentley, placed third in their pool and played strong against the first-place team, “Unfortunately the crossover had them meet my senior girls, who ended up second in their pool, and the JV team lost, ending their day,” he wrote.
The senior girls lost their first match to CACHS.
“This is so exciting for both teams to be playing well and to come together as team units so early,” he wrote. “This will allow both teams to continue to grow and build on the strong start with each future event preparing them for league and zone finals in November.”
In Olds, the City Girl’s Volleyball team, (the Grade 9s) had a bit of a slow start at the beginning of the tourney Friday night but picked things up Saturday. They got in a lot of experience, playing against teams from Canmore, Buck Mountain and Linden, explained coach Kaitlin Eyestone, in an e-mail.
“(It) was an excellent challenge for the girls. They played with a lot of heart, determination and spirit on Saturday. Their last two games went into a third match and both times they lost by two points. They played so well.”
The Grade 8 girls, also in Olds, finished their round robin play with a 4-0 record and first in their pool. The girls got a bye to the semifinals, where they faced a team from Diamond Willow and the girls played two great sets but ended up losing the match. They finished tied for third place.
The junior boys team was in Bentley last weekend with the senior girls. They came fourth in their pool and didn’t make playoffs.
Senior and JV volleyball teams play tonight at home against Central Alberta Christian High School.
