Stettler’s eight-man lineup is making the most of a limited senior boys’ volleyball roster.
The Wildcats are showing signs of improvement, says first-year coach Erroll Brager.
“We’ve been in every game we’ve played so far,” Brager said after the Wildcats lost to the Wetaskiwin Sabres last Wednesday night at the William E. Hay Composite High School gym.
“We’re hanging in there. We haven’t come away with a victory yet, in league play, but we played strong at a tournament (two weeks ago) in Camrose and we’re getting better every week.
“We had a 3-3 record (in the Camrose tourney). The first day, we won two out of three. We were in the middle of the pack. We joined the B pool as the third seed. We had a couple of tough games there and ended up finishing sixth in the B pool.”
The Camrose tournament was a homecoming of sorts for Brager, who taught there as recently as last year. He’s now teaching art, primarily, at William E. Hay.
The Wildcats lost 25-19, 25-16 and 25-22 in Week 2 action against Wetaskiwin.
“The player of the game tonight was (senior Wildcat) Nik Lee,” Brager said. “He showed some strong leadership, and was hitting everything that came his way, so that was promising.”
Stettler visits Hunting Hills in Red Deer tonight. The Wildcats are back home next Wednesday to face Camrose.
The junior varsity boys’ team plays its league games at 6 p.m., immediately preceding the senior boys’ games, as part of a new schedule format for high school volleyball this season.
The JV Wildcats lost to Wetaskiwin 25-13, 25-23 and 25-12 last week.
The JV boys, with Jefferson McClung as coach, have 12 players on board.
“The JVs have a good mix of (young and old),” Brager said. “They took quite a few Grade 9 kids this year, so they are planning on building the program through that for future years. They’re developing and they’ll improve in the future.”
SENIOR BOYS’ WILDCATS — Jordan Bauman, Justin Dadensky, T.J. Dahl, Braden Deagle, Nik Lee, Wyatt Peters, Ross Salmon, Brent Schweer.
JUNIOR VARSITY BOYS’ WILDCATS — Cole Bailey, Jade Chapman, Jacques du Toit, John Langford, Tristan Laughlin, Alden Mueller, Brendan Pederson, Adam Pitzel, Kyle Poapst, Jordan Smyth, Tanner Steinwand, Zack Werbowsky.