Sacred Heart's senior boys' volleyball team competed at the Provincial 4A championship on Nov. 25-26 in Wilkie.
The team advanced to provincials after taking second place at the Regional competition in Indian Head.
Teams consisted of: Pool A-Shaunavon, Rossignal, Oxbow, Moose Jaw Cornerstone and Creighton; Pool B-Sacred Heart, Wilkie, Nipawin, Meadow Lake Jonas Samson and Caronport.
On Friday, the team faced off against Meadow Lake with a close match that went to three sets. The Saints prevailed winning the third set 25-21.
Meadow Lake's team was made up of Gr. 9s. SHHS hitter Preston Liebrecht told the media that losing the opening set was not their ideal way to start off the biggest volleyball tournament that they have ever played in.
"Ok, this could be a really long tournament for us," Liebrecht thought to himself after his SHHS Saints gave up the opening set.
"But we never gave up."
The second match on Friday was against the home town Wilkie.
SHHS middle Dylan Johnson said the mindset going into this one was to take the home crowd out of it immediately.
"The home crowd was really into it," he said of the Wilkie school.
"We wanted to quiet their crowdtook it to them."
"The Saints took an early lead taking the momentum and taking the home town crowd out of the match," added SHHS coach Curtis Moen.
The boys won two easy sets 25-18 and 25-19.
On Saturday, the team started their day playing Nipawin. This was a very close match which went to three sets.
According to coach Moen, this team was going to present a problem up front.
"Sacred Heart had a difficult time blocking Nipawin's big middle hitter, but prevailed to win the third set 25-22."
"He's a tall guy," Johnson said, adding that this player posed a problem for SHHS, because according to Johnson, "you don't know which side he's going to (the left or the right)."
"I thought we played pretty good against them," attests Liebrecht of playing Nipawin.
In the last round robin match, Sacred Heart came up against Caronport.
"The Saints lost 15-25 and 20-25, but it was an intense game and a good effort by Sacred Heart," says coach Moen.
This placed Sacred Heart in second place in their pool which advanced them to the playoffs.
In the quarter-final Yorkton came up against Moose Jaw.
"The Saints team easily controlled the match with strong hitting and solid blocking at the net," recalls Moen.
Sacred won in two straight sets 25-17 and 25-22. This advanced the team to the semi-final taking on Oxbow.
Both Liebrecht and Johnson told the media that Oxbow is definitely not a team that can be taken lightly
"Sacred Heart did not play their best game and were defeated in two sets both scoring 14-25."
This moved Sacred Heart to the bronze medal game taking on Rossignal.
Rossignal came out strong taking an early lead in the first set, while the Saints could not catch up.
Rossignal took the first set 14-25. In the second set the Saints were fired up, determined to make a comeback.
The Saints played a strong set with many hits at the net and solid blocking which contributed to the Saints win of 26-24. In the third and final set of the day, Rossignal overtook the Saints' team with some powerful hitting, winning 25-12.
Liebrecht said it was crazy how everything unwinded for them in that set, and they did something in that set they've never done before.
"The first time we ever lost a third set was the last game," observed Liebrecht.
Sacred Heart placed fourth at provincials with an outstanding effort all around, says coach Moen.
"I am very proud of the team. They fought hard and never gave up. It was a valiant effort by the boys and I would like to congratulate them on an excellent season. Although we had hoped for a medal, the team learned a lot throughout the tournament and it was a great experience for everyone. It is not always about winning; it's the memories of competing with their friends and sportsmanship that the team will remember," explained coach Moen via email.
"Captain Preston Liebrecht had an outstanding weekend with his powerful hitting and excellent serving. A referee commented after a match that he thought the floor must have hurt after Preston's strong hit to finish a match. Dylan Johnson was a key blocker at the net for the team and lead the team in middle hits. Anthony Fetsch and Derek Marshall did an outstanding job digging and passing up the ball in the back row, which contributed to our hitting.
Setter Colin Shewchuk played incredibly, setting up our plays at the net," says coach Curtis Moen.
