Club teams finish strong at provincials
By Sean Rooney on May 9, 2018.
Medicine Hat News
It was a fantastic weekend for Medicine Hat’s club volleyball teams as they wrapped up provincial tournaments in Calgary and Edmonton.
Between 16-under and 15-under girls divisions, there was a gold medal winner, a silver and a fourth-place top-division finish that might be the best ever for a South East Alberta Volleyball Club team.
The Division 1 fourth-place result came in Calgary at the 15-under tournament. Coach Tim Bloomfield said via email that it was a “phenomenal result as this was an 80-team tournament with teams from all over Alberta and eastern B.C.”
SEAVC Rattlers Black entered the tournament ranked fifth and went 2-1 to win their round robin pool. In the first round of playoffs they trailed a Calgary team by a set and 20-22 in the second, but stormed back to force a deciding third set which they took 15-8. A straight-sets win over another Calgary side put them one step from the final.
A nailbiting 2-0 (25-22, 34-32) semifinal loss to the eventual champion Pandas from Edmonton relegated SEAVC to the bronze medal match, which they dropped to Calgary’s 403 Selects.
“It was a great year for these 11 girls,” wrote Bloomfield.”They worked hard and truly enjoyed being in the gym and getting better.They were a tough team to play against as they played with such passion and energy.”
They weren’t the only team with a notable finish to the season. At Edmonton, the 16-under SEAVC Black team won their Division 3 event, their only loss a three-setter in the round robin. They beat Edmonton’s Warriors in the semifinal and Calgary’s SAVC team in the final. Cait MacMillan and Emma Bennett both earned tournament all-star awards.
Another Division 3 team — this one the 15-under Rattlers White who played at Calgary — made the podium as well. White wound up in the final, felled only by the BRVC Vikings. They were 3-0 in the round robin and posted a 6-1 weekend record.
Rounding out the 15-under results, Rattlers Venom finished 13th in Division 4, while the Rattlers Renegades were 10th in Division 5.
In Edmonton for 16-under, the Med Hat Wild finished 15th by beating Calgary West in Division 1 playoffs. They went 3-0 in the round robin. In Division 2 the SEAVC Rattlers Broncos wound up 12th after a 1-2 round robin.
