The Estevan Comprehensive School (ECS) Elecs senior girls and boys volleyball teams competed at regional qualifying tournaments on the weekend.
The senior girls hosted the south regional tournament Saturday at ECS. They finished third in the five-team event with a 2-2 record.
Normally the top three teams at regionals advance to provincials, but since the Weyburn Comprehensive School Eagles are hosting provincials this year and are guaranteed a spot at provincials, and since Weyburn is part of the south region, only two qualifying spots were available.
Estevan opened the tournament with a pair of defeats. They lost 2-0 (25-19, 25-23) to Swift Current and 2-0 (25-12, 26-24) to Greenall out of Balgonie. Swift Current and Greenall advanced to provincials.
Estevan recovered to defeat Yorkton Regional 2-0 (25-22, 25-14) and Weyburn 2-0 (25-23, 25-23) to close out their season.
Coach Nicole Rogalski was impressed with how the Elecs played at regionals, especially in the final two games. The second set against Greenall gave them a lot of momentum for the final two games.
“We did really well defensively, so when the other team was hitting at us, we were able to, for the most part, move our feet and get to the ball and get the ball up so we could make some kind of play,” she said.
Rogalski noted this was the first time Estevan has defeated Weyburn in a match in her four years with the program.
The senior boys team went 0-4 at regionals, losing 2-0 decisions to Yorkton Regional (25-12, 25-13), Swift Current (25-7, 25-13), Greenall (25-17, 25-19) and Weyburn (25-14, 25-21).
Coach Nathan Johnson said it was a learning experience for the senior boys team, as they had a young team. Most players from last year’s team that reached provincials graduated.
ECS will lose only two players from this year’s senior boys volleyball team.
“We were up against very strong competition. We got a little bit going against Weyburn in our last match of the day.”
He believes four of the top six teams in the province were in the south region this year, and Yorkton Regional didn’t advance despite having some provincial team players.
The next edition of the Mercury will have more on this story.
