Schools from Stettler and the surrounding county of the Clearview Public Schools Division descended upon the town to participate in round robin and final play off games at the CARA tournament, hosted by the William E. Hay Stettler Secondary Campus on Nov. 7.
For most schools the round robin had started earlier in the week, including the Stettler girls' team.
On Wednesday, the round robin play for the Stettler girls started in Donalda where they played both Donalda and Christ King, losing both sets against Donalda, the girls came around to beat Christ King in both sets.
Then on Saturday the girls played Gus Wetter 1 in the morning, winning both sets, played Coronation 2 where they split the win, finishing their round robin on a high by defeating Brownfield in both sets.
This put them second in their pool as they faced Coronation 1 in the quarter finals, winning after 3 sets.
"It was a tough game that resulted in a hard-fought battle leaving them exhausted," said coach Shonna Burkard. "They went on to the semi-final game that saw them lose to Mother Teresa (Halkirk) in two sets."
In their third medal game against Erksine, the Stettler girls lost in both sets as well, which placed them fourth.
Speaking of the team's performance, Burkard said, "Pure exhaustion took over after their hard-fought win against Coronation, and although they started strong against Halkirk, they just couldn't hold on, and it was the same for their game against Erskine."
According to Burkard the girls "gave it everything they had".
"But playing two back to back games prior to reaching the semi-final and then two more back to back games drained them," added Burkard. "We will continue working on skill development (serving, hitting and blocking) and strategic ball placement in preparation for regional CWAJHAA in Red Deer on Nov. 21."
With the Stettler girls scheduled to participate in the regionals in Red Deer against teams from central Alberta, Burkard wants the players to focus on their accomplishments.
Pictures of Stettler teams in the tournament can be found with our web version of the story.