The Yorkton Force U17 Volleyball Club had a hard go of it while competing at the Saskatchewan Volleyball Association (SVA) U17/U18 Sask Cup Three in Regina on March 19 and 20.
The Force – coached by Lisa Johnson – finished the third Sask Cup instalment in fourth place in Division Two – Tier Five, ahead of just two teams - RVC Rage U17 team and QCVC Black U17 – for a 40th place finish in the 42-team tournament following a weak start to the competition on Saturday. “We had a slow start on Saturday not winning any games,” said Coach Johnson, adding that while Saturday was unsuccessful, Sunday’s play saw a few more positive results. “Sunday morning we came out with a much better effort and were a bit more successful.”
Coach Johnson said that the reason the Sask Cup Three finish might not have been as strong as they would have hoped was partly due to the fact that the girls are constantly playing different positions. “Most of the girls get thrown into new roles on the court every weekend,” offered the Force coach, continuing, “With a short bench they have to adapt quickly when an injury comes along or another teammate isn’t playing that well.”
With all that movement between positions, it’s tough for players to get comfortable on the court. With that being said, there are two players on the Force that have really shown improvement over the course of the season – Shaela Kohlert and JJ Chogata. “I was very impressed with Shaela Kohlert stepping in to set a game after our setter rolled her ankle,” mentioned Johnson. “And our libero JJ Chogata was constantly running around putting up the ball and making strong plays.”
So far this season the Force have competed in four tournaments with a season’s best third place finish at the Yorkton Blitz tournament earlier this year. The Force will now compete at the Moose Jaw Element tournament in Moose Jaw April 9-10 before going to Langenburg for a one day tournament April 16.
They’ll wrap their 2016 season up by competing at the 2016 SVA 17U Conexus Provincials in Saskatoon April 22-24.
