Colts win on north side of gym

By Sean Rooney on October 10, 2018.

NEWS PHOTO SEAN ROONEY
Monsignor McCoy's Brooklyn Schafer swings away during a varsity girls volleyball match at Crescent Heights Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2018.

srooney@medicinehatnews.com @MHNRooney

The south side of the Crescent Heights gym was jinxed Tuesday night.

As the host Vikings and rival Monsignor McCoy Colts’ varsity girls volleyball teams battled to a thrilling five-set finish, neither team could seem to wrap up a set unless they were playing on the north side of the net.

The Colts certainly earned the wild 3-2 (25-19, 15-25, 25-14, 18-25, 17-15) win, but coach Trina Lanigan would prefer her group didn’t catch wind of the anomaly. Otherwise they might start bringing compasses with them to games.

“You know, some of the girls are superstitious, I don’t know why,” said Lanigan, whose team stayed in the south side of the gym to start the fifth set, but changed its fortunes after the Vikings got up 8-4 and the teams switched one last time.

Kennedy Lanigan served out the final two points for McCoy, which improved to 3-1 in league play and got back at Crescent Heights, who had beat then in a tournament in Airdrie earlier in the season.

“We needed it,” said Trina Lanigan. “We had some injuries at the beginning on, we’ve had some slower games, haven’t had tournaments in a couple weekends so we needed to get this going.”

Both sides know they’ll be seeing lots more of each other with league playoffs, then zone playdowns to come in November. Now they might also squabble over which side of the net they get to start on.

“I guess we should’ve started over there,” said Vikings coach Scott Galloway when told of the north versus south success.

Galloway noted it might’ve been the most exciting match his team has played this year, but perhaps not the most technically sound. Crescent Heights certainly found a rhythm in the late going, taking an early 6-1 lead in the fifth after closing out the fourth, but some nervous points sent their league record back a notch to 1-2. Both teams missed key late serves.

“I don’t feel the volleyball was as clean as it can be,” said Galloway. “Entertaining volleyball yes, close volleyball yes, but I think both teams can play at a different level.”

In the end, McCoy was just barely more consistent on the night, notably getting a middle hit to win match point.

“Now we’re pushing,” said Trina Lanigan. “We’re pushing towards cities, pushing towards zones, so we needed to bring it all together again.”