An Okotoks high school was fired up with a spot at the provincial championships on the line.
A little too fired up.
The Foothills Falcons volleyball season came to a halt on Friday when they were downed in straight sets by the Bow Valley Bobcats in the 4A girls South Central Zones at Foothills gym.
“The girls played really well, we just missed too many serves is what it came down to,” said Falcons coach Jenilee Delday Hemsing. “I think it’s just the girls were going for it and giving it a little extra and we missed (by) being aggressive.”
The Falcons lost marathon first and second sets (27-25 and 30-28) to the Bobcats as they headed into a win-or-go-home third set.
The Bobcats would close out the match with a decisive 25-16 win to earn the South Central Zone 4A girls’ title and a berth at provincials.
“Both sets went past the 25 mark and when you lose two close sets it’s not only mentally draining but it takes away from you physically too,” Delday Hemsing said.
In the first match of the best-out-of-three series the Bobcats served notice on their home court with a 3-1 victory (25-16, 17-25, 25-16, 25-23) over the Falcons, Nov. 15 in Cochrane.
“The second set on Thursday and second set on Friday were probably the two best sets we played all season,” Delday Hemsing said. “It’s just finding that consistency.”
In booking a ticket to the provincial tournament, Bow Valley exacted a measure of revenge on Foothills from one year ago. The Falcons edged the Bobcats 3-2 in a five-set thriller to win the South Central Zone and book a spot in the 4A provincials last November.
“I think it’s always disappointing not to move on and to end your season with a loss,” Delday Hemsing said. “I’m not disappointed in the way the girls came out. It was the most fight they have shown as a team all season.”
At the 3A boys South Central Zone tournament at Brooks Composite, the Holy Trinity Academy (HTA) Knights went winless against some stiff opposition.
“The youthfulness of the team became apparent,” said Knights coach Brian Selders. “We lost games but we were in those games and not playing to our potential. If we were playing to our potential now we would have been beating some of those teams.”
The Knights dropped their tournament opener after an auspicious start against the Bert Church Chargers in three sets on Friday.
“What we seem to have established is we have a second game slide trend,” Selders said.
“That was characteristic of what happened on the weekend.”
The Knights then lost in straight sets to the hosts from Brooks Composite. In the second day of tournament play the Knights were bounced 2-0 in a must-win scenario by the powerhouse George McDougall Mustangs.
Despite coming away empty-handed, Selders was optimistic for the future of the Knights’ program and said the South Central Zone offered a nice measuring stick for where his club should be in the not-too-distant future.
“When we looked at the teams that were there and considered what we have for talent and what we’re building I really didn’t know what to compare to,” Selders said. “It gave me a very good way to gauge what I would expect to happen next year and even in the following year.
“I think the senior volleyball program at HTA is going to be extremely strong in the coming years.”
The HTA Knights girls endured the same fate at the 3A girls South Central Zones at Highwood High School in High River on Saturday.
The Knights did not advance out of their pool which included Canmore Collegiate, George McDougall, Springbank and the hosts from Highwood.
“Three teams from our pool ended up in the top-four spots,” said Knights’ coach Fritz Peters. “So we didn’t make it out of the round-robin.”
The Knights finished 1-3 in High River, earning a win over Canmore and dropping their matches to George McDougall, Highwood and Springbank.
Peters, who attributed the challenging time at zones to a lack of tournament action in recent weeks, said the Knights put together a quality season.
“We had a great season together,” she said. “It was such a fun group of girls to work with.”
