The Estevan Comprehensive School (ECS) Elecs senior girls volleyball team was able to finish in the top half at their home tournament but ran into a tough opponent in the playoff round.
They lost out in the first playoff game against the Moose Jaw Vanier Spirits after finishing third out of seven teams in a round robin at the ECS gym Friday and Saturday.
“It was a good tournament overall and I’m happy with the way we played through the weekend,” said Elecs girls head coach Nicole Rogalski.
The Elecs ended the first day 3-3 in sets. They split their opening two sets 17-25, 25-21 against Lampman High School, swept Moose Jaw Central 25-10, 25-13 and were swept by Moose Jaw Vanier 23-25, 10-25. Saturday, they defeated Saskatoon Christian School 25-14, 25-22, Midale 25-13, 25-13 and split with Carnduff 16-25, 25-10.
Vanier was just one set better than the Elecs during their round robin battles and the third set went 16-14 for Vanier. Carnduff ended up beating Vanier in the final.
For the Elecs, they’ve got a couple of months of tournaments to go before they go to regionals and learned a lot in their home tournament.
“We grew a lot as a team throughout the weekend, just coming together and relying on each other,” said Rogalski. “Accuracy in our serve is something we need to work on throughout the weekend, but it did improve.”
Rogalski has a pair of grade 12s on the team but also five grade 11s, three grade tens and a pair of grade 9s.
“It was tough call picking the team captains because we have a lot of leaders on the court and on the team so it’s really good to see as a coach,” she said.
Their road to provincials will be difficult because of the stiff competition they see in their 5A region, which includes Yorkton Regional, Balgonie, Vanier, Central, Peacock, Weyburn and Swift Current. They’ll have to be in the top three of those eight teams at regionals, which will take place at Moose Jaw Nov. 9-10.
“We’ll go up against some tough teams in our regionals,” said Rogalski. “It’s always a tough competition for us but once we’ve gone through our invitational tournaments I think it’ll be a good game for us.”
