The Estevan Extreme volleyball club showcased three of their competitive divisions before a gymnasium packed with cheering spectators in their inaugural home tournament at Spruce Ridge Elementary School on the weekend.
The Extreme under-13, under-14 and under-15 clubs all saw action in the Friday and Saturday tournament. The U13 team hosted an exhibition game against the Weyburn Cobras on the second day of the U14 and U15 tourney, which included clubs from Lampman/Arcola/Carnduff, Oxbow and Carlyle in competition.
After going 1-1 in round-robin play before disposing of Lampman in the semifinal, the Extreme U15 squad hit the court Saturday evening for a gold-medal tilt with the Oxbow Black Knights. Estevan came out flying against Oxbow in the first set scoring a 25-15 win. The Black Knights fought back in the second set taking it 25-20, but a strong bounce back by the Extreme in the tie-breaker helped them to a 15-11 gold medal victory.
“We kept fighting to the end and we made sure we did everything we had to,” said Extreme setter Jenna Blanchette. “We came together well. This is one of our first times playing together, so I think we did pretty good and improved.”
“We worked as a team and just made our serves and communicated well together,” added Estevan power hitter Morgan Walter. “We knew we had some tough competition, but together we just molded and got our win.”
Marcel Macfarlane, coach of the Black Knights, said his team struggled during the first set, but he’s proud of how the club recovered and battled in the second and third games. He said they haven’t played a lot of games yet and have instead focused on skill development and organized team play, so the tournament was a good way for them to gain some experience and grow as a team.
Extreme coach Trent Walter said they played well as a team in the first set moving the ball around and utilizing their power hitters, but their play seemed to slide a bit in the second. He said the girls got a bit complacent, so the focus moving forward is to get them to play from whistle to whistle from the start of the game to the end.
“They’ll learn that as we go,” said Walter, noting they will play in six road tournaments this season before the provincial playoffs begin at the end of April in Saskatoon. “We’ve got a pretty good group of girls. We’ve got seven returnees from last year. We’ve got four new girls. They’re fitting in real well, so we just have to carry that momentum through to the end of games.”
The Extreme U14 club also made it to the gold-medal game after compiling a 1-1 round-robin record and besting Carlyle in the semifinal. A championship was not in the cards for Estevan this time around, as the Lampman/Arcola/Carnduff Thunder prevailed 27-25 in a close back-and-forth first set before coming out strong in the second game to take the gold medal with a 25-15 win.
“It was a really close first set and in our round-robin, also it was really close games,” said Thunder coach Shalane Haselhan, noting Katie Weinrauch, who scored a player of the game honour, really helped them through her leadership and superior serving ability. “Going in we knew we had to bring our strongest game.”
Sarah Driscoll, coach of the Extreme U14 club, said her team worked hard all weekend, but seemed to get the jitters in the final and couldn’t break Weinrauch’s serve. Despite the result, she said the team’s play on a whole over the tournament was very good.
“This is their first time playing together as a team,” said Driscoll, noting they’ll play in six or seven tourneys before provincials begin in April. “A couple of them have played together before, but this is their first time as a team. They’re still learning where everyone is and learning how to work around each other. I think they did very well.”
Providing a respite for the U14 and U15 teams, the Estevan Extreme U13 club charged the court after round-robin play ended and before playoff action commenced for a game against the Cobras. In the three-set triple ball format game, which promotes development through focusing on three touches instead of serving, the Extreme won 25-18, 25-12 and 15-13.
“It went really well,” said Extreme U13 coach Jacqueline Da Silva. “That was the first time they ever played triple ball, so overall they did really well as a team. I was proud of how they played.”
Da Silva said the U13 club, which is comprised of 11 and 12-year-olds, will play again next weekend at a triple ball tournament in Yorkton. She said the competitive team will travel throughout Saskatchewan for tournament play over the next few months, before heading to Saskatoon for provincial playoffs in April.
“The focus is on development and team play,” said Da Silva about her team. “Winning is nice, but we’re more focusing on them becoming good well-rounded volleyball players.”
Extreme U15 coach Trent Walter said the home tournament was the first they’ve tried to hold, and the hope is it won’t be the last. He said they’d like to make the Extreme volleyball tournament an annual affair and the hope is more clubs will look to make it a regular destination.
“Once teams find out it’s a good tournament, well run and well organized, then I think we’ll get more teams to come,” said Walter. “It’s good quality volleyball here.”
