Club volleyball scene growing

By Sean Rooney on April 25, 2018.

srooney@medicinehatnews.com @MHNRooney

None of their teams won a championship banner but the the South East Alberta Volleyball Club’s sheer number of players who competed at 14-under girls provincials this past weekend spoke volumes.

At Edmonton, six different Rattlers squads were among the dozens at the last tournament of the spring —up from three that competed at the 13-under event last year from SEAVC.

“It was really great that parents stepped up to coach these teams,” said Rattlers Strykers coach Steven Austin. “We feel as a club that SEAVC had a very successful year.”

Austin’s team was in the toughest division possible thanks to some solid results at placement tournaments earlier in the season. They went 1-1 in the round robin, then lost a critical crossover match against the Edmonton Pandas. That left them battling for consolation, and they won two matches to get to the ninth-place final where they fell to a team from Calgary.

“These girls, they were overachievers,” he said. “They worked very hard. They’re smaller than the average team but their work ethic and love of volleyball (allowed them) to compete at a very high level.”

Also helping was foreign student Paula Gomez from Spain, who was “a superstar” according to Austin and was the team’s setter, despite being a libero back home.

As for the other SEAVC teams at the 14-under event, Rattlers Gold came the closest of the six to a division final, downed by the eventual champions in Division 2 in the semifinal round. They wound up fourth with a 4-3 record.

Rattlers Kik Ash went 5-2, losing their first playoff match but finishing with three wins and the consolation ninth-place title in Division 3.

Rattlers White, Rebels and Black all played in Division 5, with White winding up fourth, Rebels seventh and Black out of the seeding hunt despite taking all three of their round-robin matches to three sets.

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