INNISFAIL - The senior varsity girls volleyball team at Innisfail High School is looking to wrap a successful regular season with its last league game this week.
“We only have one more league game, next Tuesday (Oct. 25) in Rocky Mountain House,” said Deen Lockhat, head coach for the senior girls volleyball team. “We are currently in second place in the league.”
The girls play a total of six games in the regular season as part of the 3A league again this year, he noted, three of which have been at home. They played one league game against H.J. Cody and lost, but beat them in a recent tournament in Lacombe.
“Our league game against H.J. Cody went to five sets and we lost in the fifth set. It was a close game, 15-9, so it was a tough one,” said Lockhat. “Beating them in Lacombe was nice and hopefully we can do it again at zones.”
They played a total of four tournaments this season, including ones in Red Deer, Edmonton and Canmore, as well as the most recent tournament in Lacombe, where they finished in first place.
The Mega Volley Tournament, co-hosted by Central Alberta Christian School and Lacombe Composite High School, was held Oct. 7 to 9 in Lacombe.
“There were 12 teams and two pools of six. We won our pool,” said Lockhat, noting two playoff games in the tournament. “The first one was against Central Alberta Christian High School in Lacombe and we beat them and then we played H.J. Cody (from Sylvan Lake) in the final.”
Following their last league game, the earned a bye for the last week of the regular season, said Lockhat, noting the team will have a little more rest before the zone playoffs begin.
“That week of the bye, the first week of November, we're in Camrose for a tournament,” he said. “That will be our final regular season tournament and two weeks later will be our zone championships on November 19. The winner of that gets to go to provincials.”
Their record on the season currently sits at 4-1 in league play.
“The time off between our last league game and zone championships will be almost three weeks,” he added. “That's a long time to go without playing, so we're going to try and get a couple of exhibition games in between there just to keep playing at a high level.”
Overall, he said he's pleased with their efforts and work this season and would love to see his team take it one step further than last year and make it to provincials.
“Last year they lost in the semifinal (at zones) but were able to win bronze,” he said. “Those top two teams were going to provincials, so that was a tough loss for them.
“Seven of our 10 girls are returning (players) and it's a really big goal of theirs to make it to provincials this year,” said Lockhat. “They're really driven to try and work hard to avenge that loss last year and make it to provincials.”
Deen Lockhat, head coach
"They're really driven to try and work hard to avenge that loss last year and make it to provincials."
