Kwahommies fall in provincial volleyball quarter-finals, still in it for fifth

By Ryan McCracken on November 25, 2017.

rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com @MHNMcCracken

The Hat High Kwahommies came up against a powerhouse in the Alberta School Athletics Association 4A girls volleyball quarter-final.

While they fell short of the provincial semifinals with a straight sets loss to Calgary’s Western Canada Redhawks (25-11, 25-10, 25-18) on Friday evening at Crescent Heights, Hannah Heidinger says the Kwahommies found strength in the support they received from the home crowd.

“We can always rely on our crowd. Hat High is so good for that. We have great school spirit and I think we really showed that in this game,” said Heidinger. “We’re so excited. We weren’t even supposed to be here, we’re here because we’re hosting, so proving that we deserve to be here with everybody else is so important to us.”

The Redhawks set an early tone by racking up an early 6-0 lead before marching to a lopsided first-set win. But every successful Hat High dig, block and kill was met with a rumbling response from the Kwahommies supporters in attendance.

“It was good to have that support,” said Kwahommies head coach Darren MacMillan, adding they truly met their match in Western. “They’re good. We need to play teams like that to see where we need to be.”

The Kwahommies started to find a rhythm in the third, keeping a point-for-point pace for the majority of the set before the Redhawks finally ran away with the victory to punch their ticket to the semifinals.

I thought it was a great job from the girls in set 3,” said MacMillan. “They were still coming at us and we played with them for a while. Once they had that belief then they rolled with it, but those first two sets I just don’t know if we really believed.”

MacMillan added Western’s height advantage proved to be a key difference in the set. Many of Hat High’s most promising chances were shut down by timely blocks, while the varied Redhawk attack kept Hat High on their heels all evening.

“It’s something I guess we haven’t seen really, to have one girl who’s just that tall, that athletic and attacks the ball that well,” he said. “It’s tough to defend what you’ve never had to defend before.”

The Kwahommies qualified for the quarter-finals after going 1-2 in the group stage and beating Grande Prairie’s Charles Spencer in a five-set showdown (25-17, 23-25, 23-25, 25-23, 15-12). The Kwahommies continue play in the consolation bracket Saturday with fifth place still up for grabs. Action gets underway at Crescent Heights at 9 a.m.

On the 4A boys side, the Mohawks fell short of the quarter-final after losing Edmonton’s Harry Ainlay in the playoffs. The Mohawks will play Charles Spencer for 11th place Saturday at 10:30 a.m. in the Crescent Heights west gymnasium.

The girls’ semifinals are slated for 10:30 a.m. at Hat High, followed by the boys semis at 12:30 p.m. at Hat High. The winners will advance to the girls championship at 4:30 p.m. and the boys championship at 6:30 p.m.

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