Despite harrying the senior girls' volleyball team from Ponoka, the Stettler Wildcats just couldn't pull out a win in their sets against the visiting team.
On Tuesday, Sept. 22, the Wildcats hosted the Ponoka Broncs for a best-of-five sets game and came on to the court with plenty of energy, only to be defeated 25-14 in the first by the visiting team.
In the second set, Stettler recovered somewhat, holding on to control of the ball long enough to pull ahead of the Broncs and bring in 12 points. However, once the Broncs regained control of the ball they didn't let it go often, evening out the score and, with a series of successful blocks and teamwork, won the set 25-12.
"It's a building team," coach Derek Hatch said. "While most teams are mostly made of Grade 12 girls, we've only three, and are mostly made of grades 10-11."
Knowing the third set would make-or-break the game, the Wildcats rallied, exchanging the possession of the ball back-and-forth with the Broncs for the first 18 points. At that moment, a series of bad serves into the net for both teams saw the ball eventually end up back in Ponoka's control, and the Broncs pulled ahead, eventually winning 25-21.
Despite the loss, Hatch said overall he was pleased with the progress made by the team.
"By far, we didn't play our best game against Ponoka," he said. "But we played against the first place team (in a recent tournament) and came up 23-25 and 22-25."
He said that consistency is the biggest hurdle, but in time and with practice, that would come. In the meantime, the practices will let the players master their skills, and become used to working together to gain the consistency.
A fourth set, for the sake of the game, was played in exhibition before the game drew to a close.