Dave Leaderhouse
Special to the Herald
Something had to give and in the end it was the U18 Huskies Volleyball Club Elite from Saskatoon that did not break.
The U18 HVCE went undefeated to win the Prince Albert Toppers Spring Smash female volleyball tournament held on Sunday at Carlton Comprehensive High School.
After winning three straight matches in round-robin play and then breezing through two playoff rounds the Huskies disposed of the U17 CVVC Aces from Warman 25-18, 25-18 in the championship final. The Aces had also failed to drop a set leading up to the gold-medal game.
The Prince Albert Toppers Volleyball Club had a pair of squads in the eight-team event with the U18 and U17 Inferno registering similar results in preliminary play, but the U17 Inferno had a longer run in the playoffs eventually falling 22-25, 25-21, 7-15 to the U18 JCVC Black Lightning from Saskatoon in the bronze-medal game.
The U17 Inferno were 2-4 in round-robin action playing in a pool with the Huskies, Black Lightning and U18 CVVC Aces. The U17 Inferno then upset the U18 JCVC Red club from Saskatoon 23-25, 23-17, 15-13 in quarter-final action before falling 25-19, 25-21 to the Huskies in the semi-finals, sending them to the bronze-medal contest against the Black Lightning.
The U18 Inferno were also 2-4 in round-robin play when they were grouped with the U18 JCVC Red, U17 CVVC Aces and U18 Northwest Wild from Spiritwood. The U18 Inferno were then eliminated in the quarter-finals after they fell 25-17, 25-17 to the Black Lightning, who would see their quest for a gold medal come to an end in the semi-finals with a 25-17, 25-15 setback to the U17 CVVC Aces.
The tournament is the latest, and one of the last, in a long season of club volleyball action that began in late October and will end with provincial championships to be held in Warman at the end of April.
Ryan Finch, head coach of the U18 Inferno squad, says he is pleased with his team’s performance despite the lack of results on Sunday.
“It’s been a pretty good season,” says Finch. “We’ve qualified for Division 2 in provincials which is Top 20 in the province.”
“It’s a big commitment,” added Finch, whose club already has a berth in the national U18 championship to be played in Calgary in May as they were selected through a lottery system. “We practice twice a week and this is our eighth tournament.”
The U17 Inferno will also be at provincials later this month when they vie for the Division 1 title in that age class.
Club volleyball begins at the U13 level and flows through the U15, U17 and U18 divisions. Finch says the sport is getting bigger and bigger, but there is a major drawback.
“There is definitely a growing interest in the province and there would be more if we had more coaches,” says Finch. “We had 240 players try out for our teams (in Prince Albert), but we had to turn a lot away because we don’t have the coaches.”
Most, if not all, of the players also play for their school teams so the dedication is evident. Spending a full day on the court is the norm for the participants and having an event like the one held on Sunday only offers them more opportunity to hone their skills.
