The Senior Arden volleyball squad traveled to North Battleford this past weekend to take part in a 12-team tournament to open the season.
The Ardens got off to a slow start losing their first three sets in the round robin but responded with three straight wins to finish second in their pool and move into the championship pool. The Ardens opened the round robin with a loss to North Battleford (22-25, 23-25) before splitting with Prince Albert Rivier (22-25, 25-13) and then downing Medstead (25-9, 25-10).
In the championship pool the Ardens played well in their opening match but spilt with Prince Albert St. Mary (25-16, 25-27) before dropping a pair of games to Lanigan (21-25, 16-25). The Ardens regrouped once again to defeat Cut Knife (25-15, 25–17) before splitting with Meadow Lake (25-21, 21-25) to narrowly miss the semi-finals.
With only five players returning from last year’s team, this past weekend was an excellent opportunity for the team to get to know each other. Returning players on the Ardens are grade 12’s Heather Jackle and Kelly Reimer and grade 11’s Ty Onerheim, Jackie Seidler and Taylor Lamb. New to this years team are grade 11’s Amber Wall, Megan Rumpel and Sloane Meyer and grade 10’s Shelbie East and Jenna Krahn.
The players on this team are energetic, enthusiastic and willing to learn - coaches Heather Striker and Brent Millar
“This past weekend, we struggled with consistency and that could be expected on the first weekend of the season,” noted coaches Heather Striker and Brent Millar.
“Although we finished just out of the playoff round in fifth, we felt that any of the top five could have won the tourney. We just couldn’t put two matches together, for example we defeated Cut Knife and played solid and then struggled against Meadow Lake.”
“Our team is young and made good strides this weekend. We as coaches are quite optimistic with the potential that the team has in going forward. We have not been back to the provincial championships in a few years and one goal this team has set this season is to reach the championships, then see how far we can go,” they continued.
“The players on this team are energetic, enthusiastic and willing to learn, three things that bode well for the Senior Ardens volleyball this season,” the coaches added.
The Ardens have this weekend off before traveling to Regina to compete in a 16-team tournament at three high schools (Winston Knoll, Riffle and Thom) on September 25-26.
