From humble beginnings to a triumphant finish.
The Holy Trinity Academy Knights exceeded their own expectations by capping an undefeated season in the Foothills Athletic Council senior boys volleyball ranks with the team's first league banner in five seasons after taking out the Foothills Falcons in the all-Okotoks gold medal match, Nov. 9 at HTA.
“This team was put together a little bit late and we didn’t think we would have a good senior team this year,” said Max Hartman, one of the Knights’ captains. “But it came together and these guys really improved, through the tournaments we always got better and it was just crazy the amount of growth that every single person on the team had.”
The Knights took the final in straight sets (25-17, 27-25 and 25-19) in a championship match marked by wicked twists of momentum and extended runs by both combatants.
"It was good for us to be able to push them, especially in that second set," said Falcons head coach Jeremy Davies. "That definitely gave the boys an idea that they're definitely able to compete point-to-point with HTA. All of our other matches have been a little bit more one-sided, but having that close match there and having it at HTA's gym was a big confidence boost for our team."
HTA took the early advantage in all three games and was pushed to the brink in a nailbiter second set.
The Falcons rallied late in the game to take a 21-19 advantage and were serving to take the second set up 25-24 only to have Hartman respond with a couple big hit in a row and a tip-in play at the net finish the set.
“It was pretty close and we didn’t really want it to be that close, but they picked it up at the end with a back-and-forth rally,” said Knights head coach Katherine Vigilance. “That last timeout we took, we just said ‘we want this right now.’
“We’ve always been head-to-head with the Comp throughout the year, it’s always good competition so it was nice to get the victory out of that one.”
Foothills pushed back in the third set with the game on the line and if not for a 4-0 run down the stretch might have forced a fourth set.
“We usually start with a lead and the boys when either they do an error or they touch the net or something like that they get down on themselves,” Vigilance said. “As a coach I always bring them in and say ‘that point is over, let’s move on to the next point and we just want to get the ball back.’ It seems like they carry on some of the mistakes and just need to learn to brush it off and keep going.”
Hartman, who is no stranger to pressure situations as a Dawgs Academy ace and member of the Canadian Junior national baseball team, called game with a service ace to make it a 25-19 victory in the third set and lock up the championship.
“All the time in practice I always challenge myself at the end to go, game on the line hit a hard serve,” Hartman said. “I thought ‘so what and let ‘er go and made the serve and aced the game.
“It was just keeping the intensity up all game. We knew that they were going to push back in the second and third set, but we just knew that we had to keep our energy up.
“Just that same approach (in the third set), trusting what got us there and keep hitting the ball hard, continue with first pass and swing like we can.”
Hartman’s younger brother Eric is a Grade 10 outside hitter on the team giving the siblings the chance to play on the same squad for the first time since junior high volleyball and hockey in their youth as well.
Team cohesion proved to be a winning formula as the Knights went undefeated in the regular season and only dropped two sets all campaign.
“The boys truly enjoyed playing (together), it’s a strong team on-and-off the court,” the coach added. “And I think once you have that as a team they just work well together, they encourage each other, if someone has made a mistake they’re positive.”
Next week, the Okotoks schools will meet again as the Falcons are hosts of the 4A senior boys and girls volleyball championships. On the boys side, the Knights and Falcons will clash with the Chestermere Lakers and Bert Church Chargers for the right to advance to the provincial championships.
The competition runs Nov. 19-20 at Foothills Composite.
