The St. Mary Sr. Girls enter the 2025 high school volleyball season with a revamped roster including a mix of new players and veterans.
The squad features six new faces, but they’re embracing the challenges that come with roster turnover. It’s only one week into the high school volleyball season and they’re already enjoying their underdog status.
“It gives me something to look forward to and push for every practice,” Grade 12 right side hitter Ally Dmytruk said with a smile. “We practice four days a week so it’s great. We always have a goal in mind.”
The Marauders finished second in pool play at the 5A Girls 2024 provincial tournament, but were knocked out in the quarterfinals. It was the first time since 2021 that the Marauders failed to make the 5A provincial final.
This year is a rebuilding year for the team, but Dmytruk is confident they have the tools to succeed.
“I’m really excited for this season,” she said. “I think going into it we might be a little bit of the underdog team, but like we did last year, we can work our way up. That’s always exciting.”
Lloydminster will host 5A Girls provincials this year. Marauders head coach Shaun Hunko said it’s always exciting to play so close to home, but that also means there’s one fewer provincial spot up for grabs at the regional tournament.
“Our goal is always to make it to provincials,” Hunko said. “It’s going to be really hard for us this year. There are only two spots in our region because one of the spots is taken by the host team … and there are a bunch of us fighting for the other two. It’s going to be a battle. We know that. We have to buy into working hard.”
Hunko said this year’s Marauder squad won’t be as offensively imposing as previous teams, but they can still compete if they excel in other aspects of the game.
“We have to play really good defence this year,” he said. “We’re not a team that’s going to overpower you with offence, so we definitely have to play defence and do all the little things well.
“The message is, if we can work hard this season and improve and learn from our mistakes quickly, we can close the gap between those top teams.”
The Marauders play their cross-town rivals from Carlton at the Crusader home tournament on Friday. Game time is 2:30 p.m.
St. Mary hosts their own tournament on Sept. 19-20.
