The Sacred Heart High School (SHHS) senior girls' volleyball team competed in the University of Regina (U of R) Autumn Classic over the weekend. The tournament featured 24 teams from across Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
The Lady Saints began the tournament Friday with a short bench as four players went to Moose Jaw to play soccer.
The first match was against O'Neill High School of Regina. SHHS lost the first set by just two points, but fought back to win the second and third set and take the match.
The second match was against Assiniboia. Sacred Heart won the first set, lost the second but rallied to win the third.
In the final round robin match Friday night SHHS lost two straight games to Wakaw which placed them second place in their pool to advance to the championship tier.
The Lady Saints began Saturday with reinforcements as three additional 'soccer' players arrived in time to face Major Pratt High School of Russell.
A sluggish start cost the Lady Saints who fell two straight to the Manitoba school.
Next SHHS played Moose Jaw Central. The two evenly matched teams fought for every point and the Lady Saints won two straight 27 - 25 and 25 - 19.
In the final match of the tournament the Lady Saints faced Regina Riffel. The girls were defeated two straight by the taller and older Regina school 18 - 25 and 14 - 25. With the loss the Lady Saints finished in 10th place out of 24 teams.
Coach Perry Ens says, "We had a very slow start to the tournament. Even though we won both matches the team struggled to find its rhythm. As the tournament progressed I was happy to see the team gel together and play much better together."
Ens was very happy with 10th place considering the team had at least three Grade 10 rookies on the court in every set.
Ens was especially impressed with the play of Riana Skikewich and Allison Kruger, two Grade 10 setters who set for every match during the weekend. "It's pretty rare to see a Grade 10 setter get court time at a tournament like this. Our rookie setters played every match," Ens points out.
Hannah Hansen, a Grade 10 middle showed great improved from the team's first tournament. In the match against O'Neill Hansen served eight points in a row to lead the Lady Saints to a come-from-behind win.
The Lady Saints will travel to Regina this weekend to take part in the Mega Volley Tournament hosted by several Regina high schools.
