The Lakeland Girls volleyball team will return home from Lloydminster on Saturday, and they’re bringing silver medals with them.
The team comprised of players from Prince Albert, Christopher Lake, Birch Hills, Titanic, and Rosthern finished second at the Saskatchewan Summer Games following a 2-0 (25-22, 29-17) loss to Rivers West on Wednesday. Head coach Tori Glynn said she was proud of the squad’s efforts.
“The Sask. Summer Games was a new experience for these athletes, as well as our coaching staff, so we really went into it with an open mind and a willingness to adapt and change in order to compete and play at a high level,” Glynn said. “The team really came together and supported each other. They did this in positive moments and in challenging moments.”
The Lakeland Girls started the tournament with straight-set wins over Team North, Team Saskatoon, and Team Regina on Monday followed by a 2-0 loss to Rivers West. That put them into the quarterfinal against Team Southwest on Tuesday, where they prevailed 2-1 (27-25, 21-25, 15-11).
The win setup a rematch with Saskatoon in the semi-final, where Lakeland again won in straight sets (25-23, 28-26) to earn a shot at gold.
“The team was very excited, obviously,” Glynn said when asked about the win over Saskatoon. “We had spent this summer training with the goal in mind of doing our best and trying to play the best volleyball that we could at the … Sask. Summer Games.
“We had played Saskatoon earlier in the tournament (and) it was nice to see us take some of the things that we did in the first game against Saskatoon, make some adjustments to our game plan, and then implement and execute them in the semi-finals.”
The gold medal game featured another rematch, this time with Rivers West who defeated Prairie Central in straight sets to win the other semi-final.
Rivers West took the first set 25-22, and then prevailed 29-27 in a long second set to win gold.
“Rivers West was a really fun team to play,” Glynn said. “We had played them earlier in the tournament, which was good. We got to see some of the things that they ran and some of the things that they did.
“Even though we didn’t get the result we wanted in the final in terms of winning the gold medal, it was nice to see us make adjustments and compete with that team from the first time we played them.”
Prairie Central defeated Saskatoon in the bronze medal game 2-0 (25-11, 25-12).
Lakeland Girls Roster
Brynae Quick (Christopher Lake)
Maris Bonneau (Prince Albert)
Berkley Eva Francoeur (Prince Albert)
Jacy Smith (Titanic)
Emily Sanford (Birch Hills)
Jahnika James (Prince Albert)
Katana Billay (Prince Albert)
Roca McDonald (Prince Albert)
Jayda Finch (Prince Albert)
Janaea Hayes (Prince Albert)
Monica Kuzniar (Prince Albert)
Lexis Chaplin (Rosthern)
