The Saskatchewan Volleyball Association hosted its first set of age-group tournament for the 2012 indoor season this past weekend with game dates in both Yorkton and Saskatoon.
These tournaments kicked off the season which runs from January to May.
Fourteen girls' teams competed over the weekend at the Gloria Hayden Community Centre.
They included Assiniboia, Fort Qu'Appelle, Lanigan, Meadow Lake, Muenster, Regina, Regina Beach, Saskatoon, Wolseley and Yorkton McSweeney Selects.
Twenty-one teams played in Saskatoon.
The Selects hosted but played in a higher age division.
"Saturday was very successful but unfortunately were put in a very strong pool and (ended up) in tier II," reports coach Brent Brown.
"We struggled Sunday morning with passing and executing our attack and because of this, the older and more experienced girls took advantage and we did not have a good morning."
They finished off with a very strong match and this will do us good going into this weekends Sask Cup 16 & Under event in Saskatoon.
Entire weekend was just about working out a few kinks and getting some court time before our first big tournament this weekend.
"We had a great Saturday, not-so-great Sunday," Brown reiterated.
"But we finished on a high note. Serving was not near as strong today (Sunday)," he said.
The team was told that results were not important this weekend but understanding some of our strengths and weaknesses was the entire goal of the weekend, he said.
With a few new girls on the team it also gave everyone a chance to become a little more comfortable with each other on the court.
Serving is going to be key for us this year as we are not a tall team and will have to pass very well and play strong defensively.
The club is hosting a number of big events this year and wants to get some experience against some older teams and also want to make sure that some big tournaments are held in Yorkton.
"These bring in tremendous benefits for the city and also help our team raise some funds as we will be travelling to nationals in Toronto in May to attend the biggest tournament in Canadian volleyball history with an estimated 1,000 teams in all age groups participating," says Brown.
Results from the weekend, tier I finishes were: Saskatoon Pure Chaos, JCVC, QCVC Royal, Wolesley Slashers, CVC Cougars, QCVC Raw, South Shore Stingers and Lanigan Blue.
Tier II finishes were: Fort Fusion, Meunster Cougars, Assiniboia A-Town Aces, Meadow Lake Jaguars, McSweeney's Selects and QCVC Havoc.
