Stettler’s junior high senior girls’ volleyball team hadn’t played a single game before lacing up for their tournament on Saturday, Sept. 24 at Wm. E. Hay. There had been no exhibition season for them, or their male counterparts.
Despite this hurdle, the girls went on to finish in third place, behind gold powerhouse Donalda and silver Gus Wetter.
The round robin featured two pools, with each game having two sets. The Stettler girls split their sets during the round robin, according to Coach Shonna Burkard, facing Brownfield, Gus Wetter and Father Lacombe in the round robin.
With some great play, Stettler advanced to quarter finals, where a hard-fought and close triumph over Erskine put them in contention for the semi-finals. There, the girls faced Coronation, beating them soundly to secure the bronze in sets of 25-16 and 25-18, Burkard said.
“We got better as they day went on,” she admitted, noting again that it was the first game of the season for the team. “They played really well, all things considered.”
Boys edged out of medal contention
Over in the middle school and elementary school gymnasiums, the boys’ junior high senior volleyball team battled to keep themselves in medal contention.
After the round robin, where the boys placed third out of four teams, they found themselves staring over the net at the players from St. Augustine (2) for the quarter finals.
Despite playing their hearts out, the boys were defeated, which knocked them out of the semi-finals and the hopes for a medal.
“We did awesome for the boys’ first games of the season,” Coach Megan Klaus said. No medal could come close in value to seeing the improvement of the team throughout the tournament, she said.