The Fox Valley Legends came just a few points short of repeating as champions at the Swift Current Comp. Senior Colts’ 16-team Invitational Volleyball Tournament over the weekend where they advanced past 14 other teams before finally succumbing to perennial powerhouse Prince Albert St. Mary (22-25, 23-25) in the championship final.
Fox Valley placed first in their pool on Friday with wins over Regina Campbell (22-25, 25-15), Oxbow (25-15, 25-14) and Estevan (21-25, 25-15).
Saturday the Legends competed in the championship pool and finished with wins over Balgonie (29-27, 25-6) and Vanier (25-17, 25-19) and a loss to Meadow Lake (23-25, 15-25) to wind up in a three-way tie with Meadow Lake and Balgonie, all at 2-1. Through the Volleyball Canada tie-breaking procedure the Legends ended up in first-place and Balgonie ended up in second-place in the pool sending both teams to the semi-finals.
In the semi-finals the Legends had no trouble getting past Lumsden in two straight games (25-5, 25-16) to face the Marauders.
"I thought we played a good tough match against them, a couple of missed blocks near the end was the only difference," said Legends coach Darren Lehmann of his teams showing against St. Mary who they also lost against the previous weekend in Saskatoon. "I believe for a 1A school to be very competitive at tournaments like this, which have mostly 4A and 5A schools at, speaks well for the team and how our season is going."
if we work hard and outwork other teams there should be no reason we can't medal at provincials - Darren Lehmann, Fox Valley coach
The Legends are a 1A school competing once again this season at 2A provincials and have won provincial titles in seven of the past eight years at the 1A and 2A levels. Their only blemish came two seasons ago when they lost to Frontier in the 2A provincial final.
"Our goal at the start of every year is to do well at provincials," I tell our guys at the start of the year, if we work hard and outwork other teams there should be no reason we can't medal at provincials." explained Lehmann.
The host Colts made a habit of inconsistent efforts and finished in the middle of the pack at their home event.
The Colts opened the weekend in front of a large crowd on Friday afternoon and split their matches with Moose Jaw Central (22-25, 25-23) and Lumsden (25-23, 20-25) before splitting an evening match with Meadow Lake (25-15, 22-25).
