Jason Kerr
Daily Herald
The Carlton Crusaders’ quest for a second straight medal at Saskatchewan High School Sr. Boys’ Volleyball Provincials came up just short this year.
The Crusaders advanced to the quarterfinals at this year’s tournament in Prince Albert, but were eliminated in straight sets (25-23, 25-14) by eventual the silver medalists from Aden Bowman.
“We went out and played as good as I think we could have, and we got a bonus game out of it,” head coach Matthew Lueck said. “It was unfortunate that we didn’t win that game, but it was definitely something where there were some positives.”
Carlton opened the tournament with a 2-1 loss to Lloydminster (25-22, 22-25, 15-10) and 2-0 defeat to Miller (25-15, 25-22). They earned their first win at the end of day one against Swift Current (10-25, 25-23, 15-13), and closed out pool play with a narrow loss to Holy Cross at the start of day two (19-25, 28-26, 15-12).
“We were in a pretty tough pool,” Lueck said. “Lloyd(minster) was the top team out of our region, Swift Current was the top team out of their region, and then Miller was the top team out of their region, so we were put with three number one seeds. The other team we played in our pool was Holy Cross, and they actually ended up winning, so it was a really tough pool and we just so happened to beat the right team to get to that knockout stage.
“I think after getting to that knockout stage and getting to that game with Aden Bowman, we were kind of playing with house money and we were excited to play that game.”
Carlton and Swift Current both finished with 1-3 records, but the Crusaders earned the final playoff spot due to their head-to-head victory over the Colts. In the quarterfinals, they matched up with the Saskatoon city champions, Aden Bowman.
The Crusaders stayed close for the first set, but Aden Bowman pulled away in the second for a comfortable win. Lueck described Aden Bowman as “a tank of a team” and said the Crusaders did well to stay with them through the first set.
“I thought we gave them a really good run that first set and I think we might have given them a little bit of a shock because they hadn’t really been challenged a lot, it seemed, in their pool play,” he said. “We tried to give them a little bit of a gut punch and we almost snuck one on them. The second set, when you’re playing a team that good, it’s hard to stay at that intensity for that long. They just got into their game plan and got after us.”
Lueck said the experience at this year’s provincials bodes well for next year’s squad. He said this year’s group of Grade 12s created a culture where every player wants to keep getting better, and that will benefit the Grade 9s, 10s, and 11s who are returning next year.
“I’m looking forward to it (next season),” Lueck said. “We’re going to get better. We’re not worried about all the wins and losses all the time. I think with that mindset, we’re bound to hopefully be a team that’s perennially getting to provincials every year.
“There’s going to be those years where we’re really confident that we’re going to contend for a medal again. Maybe next year’s not that year because we’re going to be pretty young, but you never know.”
@kerr_jas • jason.kerr@paherald.sk.ca
