The Carlyle Cougars came back to beat the Lampman Grizzles at Estevan Comprehensive School on Thursday to claim the 2015 Freshman Girls District Championship.
Up 1-0 in a best-of-three set title match, Carlyle found themselves close but trailing continually in the second set to the strong Lampman team. Down 5-2 early in the set, the Cougars pushed back to even the score at sixes on Alexis Thompson's serve, before the Grizzles jumped ahead to 12-8 on an unbroken serve by Madison Stinson.
Never giving up, Carlyle kept up the pressure on Lampman in the game bringing the score close once again at 21-20 with the Cougars' Madison Riddell up to serve. She managed to rattle off five straight points to give Carlyle the 25-21 win.
“I was just thinking get it over (the net),” said Riddell.
Cougars head coach Trent Johnson said the team has played Lampman a few times this season and every match has been close. He said they knew going into the championship game they would have a battle on their hands, but they found a way to get the win.
“The girls, if they're focused they can come back even if it's varied momentum, up and down, in a game,” said Johnson. “When they are down they don't get too frustrated too quickly, so they know they can come back if they do what they have to do.”
Riddell said they realized during the back-and-forth second set they had a shot, so they pulled together and made it happen. She said the team has improved immensely since their first action this season and had won four consecutive tournaments heading into districts, making a win a good possibility.
“We worked really hard this year and we deserved it,” she said. “We have come a long way.”
Carrie Englot, coach of the Grizzlies, said they gave it their best shot against the Cougars and it just didn't work out for them in the match. She said the team has had an excellent year and has done a great job of growing as volleyball players this season and that was on display in the title game.
“They played really well in that game,” said Englot. “The girls play well as a team and they communicate well as a team. That is our strength. They like to play with each other and they're a team.”
The ECS Elecs freshman girls volleyball team lost 25-13, 25-13 to the Grizzlies in the district semifinal. Elecs coach Lauren Pottie said the girls did very well considering the tough competition at the season-ending tournament and that was echoed by players on the team.
“We played really good,” said Elecs' Caitlyn Green. “We were getting better (throughout the tournament and the season).”
“We were getting better at serving and playing together in general,” added Elecs' Jordan Gilroy.
