Olds High School (OHS) Spartans Senior Girls' volleyball head coach Wanda Vandervelden is looking forward to the team she'll have next year, now that the 3A South Zones are over.
OHS hosted the South Zones, held Nov. 16-17 at the Ralph Klein Centre.
Unfortunately, the Spartans were unable to make the playoffs, so their season is over.
"Our Spartan girls are a little bit disappointed," she says. "They didn't play quite the way they had hoped. We had a rough start in the first set and then that kind of just was a domino effect for the rest of the weekend."
Cochrane won the tournament. They are a strong, experienced squad, just as Vandervelden noted during an earlier interview with the Albertan.
She pointed out they have lots of height, but also have the advantage of having played in top-notch club competition during the season.
However, Cochrane wasn't the only strong team in the 3A Zones.
"Brooks came out with some real solid defence and was the second-place team. Knocked off a really solid Strathmore team," she says.
Vandervelden will lose seven Grade 12s to graduation.
However, she's not concerned.
"I have players for each position for next year, which is nice, and then they'll help the new players come on and kind of tutor them a little bit," Vandervelden says.
"The players who are coming up from the JV system are really solid, good volleyball players, so they won't have any problem stepping up to the senior high level."
Vandervelden agrees the 3A Zones were a great learning experience for the senior Spartan girls.
"They were a great bunch of girls to work with. They'll have many memories that will last a long time for them," she says.
