If the 2011 Foothills Athletic Council girls volleyball season taught us anything, it’s you don’t win games on paper and any team can win on any given night.
The Strathcona-Tweedsmuir Spartans were shocked in last year’s championship by the Foothills Falcons, ending a four-year reign for the Spartans as Foothills Athletic Council (FAC) titleholders.
With coaching changes at both Okotoks schools and a new crop of Senior talent on the court volleyball fans could be in for another unpredictable season.
What follows is a comprehensive breakdown of how the foothills teams stack up for the 2012 Senior girls volleyball season.
Falcons seek to repeat
The defending FAC champions aren’t resting on their laurels, but they are pretty well set in their ways.
The Foothills Falcons, who stunned Strathcona-Tweedsmuir Spartans in the council final last year, will be led by returning setter Haley Jensen.
“She is of the best setters in the Alberta area,” said Falcons head coach Jenilee Delday Hemsing. “We will be using a 5-1 offence (five hitters, Jensen setting) but we also have Jenna Thomson who is a good setter, which will mean we can run a 6-2 modified so Haley can hit too.
“We will alternate between those two offences.”
The setters will be dishing the ball off to returning powers Jackie Leaney and Brooklyn Bouvier.
“Jackie is a great hitter and it is nice to have her back,” Delday Hemsing said. “Brooklyn is also a big hitter and an exceptional passer.”
Helping to block and hit from the middle is Alyssa Sheen and Madie Turbach.
Delday Hemsing said she is hoping to possibly move Sheen to the right side to make room for Kalli Turbach in the middle.
“We are waiting for Kalli to recover from a knee injury — to have both sisters in the middle would make us that much stronger.”
Newcomers to the Senior team include Grade 10 Karina Richichi.
“She’s one of our utility players,” Delday Hemsing said. “She can pass, a good hitter and we can utilize her anywhere.”
Grade 11 student Leslie Hall will see action as an outside hitter after recovering from an ACL injury.
Brielle Reidlinger will also see action in the middle for Foothills.
Saige Somer can also help the Falcons as a power and out of the middle spot.
Delday Helmsing is confident her team will be right there at FAC playoff time.
“There are a lot of good teams in the FAC and I like to think we are one of them,” she said. “We just have to keep on improving.”
Knights a cohesive unit
The Holy Trinity Academy (HTA) Knights have a new face on the sidelines this season and new expectations too after finishing 2011 off the FAC podium.
Fritz Peters, who takes over the coaching duties for the senior team this year after having coached a good number of the players last season with HTA’s JV girls squad, said the 2012 Knights have a nice blend of youth and experience.
“I’ve got a great calibre of players coming back and new ones joining us,” Peters said.
The team is composed of seven Grade 12s and four Grade 11s.
The JV girls team took bronze at last year’s South Central Zones and Peters is expecting a similar result from the Senior team.
“I’m hoping for some colour medal this year,” she said.
Returning players from last year’s team include Jill Lazic, Ari Benwell, Sam Stremecki and Celina Paolini. They’re joined by Maddy Uchytil, who’s come to the Knights’ volleyball program from Oilfields High School.
Six of the coaches’ players have graduated from the JV to the Senior team, including Kylie Pozniak, Rachael Peters and Natasha Sergl, and a trio of front line players are expected to start on the Senior team.
“Ella Michel will be our starting setter and Amy Scragg at right side and we hope to see a lot of Lauren Spence’s power,” Peters said. “She’s not very big, but she’s got a lot of power.”
Peters said she’s encouraged by the Knights’ promising performances to start the season.
“I think individually there are a lot of strengths, but they just gelled so well already in the first two tournaments we played in,” Peters said. “We were in Claresholm on the weekend and came in second, we won 12 out of 12 and lost in the final.
“I thought we did really well and saw where we need to get to.”
The Knights have started strong in league play as well. They defeated the County Central Hawks in their FAC opening match (25-7, 25-11, 25-14) on Sept. 11.
Bronze or bust
Any thoughts of rebuilding the Oilfields Drillers should be placed on the backburner.
Drillers coach Kevin Wilson said he hopes to at least match the team’s third place performance in the FAC last year.
“I feel like we have just as good as talent as we did last year, we might not quite have the height we had,” Wilson said. “I told the girls that if we finished worse than third (in the FAC) the season isn’t a success.
“Our goal is to finish just as well we did last year in league.”
Wilson said the Drillers will rely on a speedy defence and covering the floor like a tarp.
The offence will start with returning setter Abby Glaicar.
“I have a fantastic setter in Abby Glaicar and we can hit hard,” Wilson said. “We don’t have a lot of height but we can hit.”
The Drillers’ offence will be led by returning powers Whitney Boehmer and Courtney Hughes.
“They hit a ton so we will be looking to them to provide a lot of our offence,” Wilson said.
Up the middle, the Drillers are a work in progress, but they have plenty to work with.
“All of our middles are new,” Wilson said. “They don’t hit hard, but they hit it in the right spots.”
The middles are Kaylee Rider, Kalene Lillico and Grade 10 student Janna Tymstra.
The Strathcona-Tweedsmuir School (STS) Spartans, who could not be reached for comment, enter the 2012 season once again as perennial contenders for the league crown.
Last year’s second place finish broke a four year streak of gold medals for STS. The Spartans have 12 league championships to their name and have not finished below second in well over a decade.
For full schedules and results for the girls volleyball season go to www.foothillsathletics.ca.
