The Battlefords Volleyball Club Impact 15U girls’ team found themselves facing the best club teams in the province Feb. 4 and 5 in Lloydminster.
When the weekend was over, they had bragging rights over 26 other teams in their division as they won the first Sask Cup tournament of the season over the Prince Albert Toppers En Fuego.
“To finish that well at that event gives us a lot of confidence before the rest of the season,” coach Jana Friedenstab said.
“We’re hosting a tournament next month and we’ll be going to Swift Current for a tournament as well, so it’s a pretty long season and there’s lots that we can still accomplish, but we were really proud of how we finished in Lloydminster.”
Having already won a tune-up tournament in Meadow Lake on Jan. 21, the Impact team used many of the lessons they picked up from that weekend with their play in Lloydminster, especially in their three-set win in the finals.
“We were in command in the first set of the Tier 1 gold medal game, but we ended up losing that set,” Friedenstab said. “I made some changes to our lineup for the second set and we came out and dominated, which gave us a bit of confidence.
“In the third set we were trailing 12-10, and I told Lauren (Brandle) to go out and try the jump serve that she had been working on for the last couple of weeks. She went out and made four aces in a row and that turned out to be the turning point in the match.”
The Impact 15U team have also been able to run a few more complex offences than their competition so far, which is thanks to the amount of chemistry that they have build up over the last few years.
“About 90 per cent of the girls’ have been playing together for the last four years, and that includes the silver medal that they won at the Saskatchewan Summer Games in Estevan last summer,” Friedenstab said.
“To see the girls perform as well as they have been so far against teams from Regina and Saskatoon where you have a huge population base to draw from when you are putting together teams like this is really impressive. They play smart but they aren’t afraid to take a chance in certain situations, and that’s something I like to see as a coach.”
The next major tournament is the second Sask Cup event in Saskatoon on March 11 and 12.
After that, the Battlefords Volleyball Club will be hosting a tournament at the NationsWest Field House on March 18 and 19.
“We’re at 10 teams right now but we’re hoping to have a 16-team field,” Friedenstab said.
“Many of the top club teams from Saskatchewan will be here, so it should be an exciting weekend.”
