By SEAN ROONEY on April 10, 2019.
srooney@medicinehatnews.com@MHNRooney
They started higher on the food chain, and the South East Alberta Volleyball Club’s 16-under Rattlers Black girls team hopes they can finish higher than last year too.
Considering their final spot in the province in 2018 was fourth in the top tier – something nearly unheard of from a club outside of Calgary or Edmonton – it’s a tall order. But beginning with a massive event in Las Vegas in February, they’ve proved they’re a side to be reckoned with.
“We held our own,” said coach Tim Bloomfield. “We’ve got some good players, too.”
Rattlers Black finished fourth at the third provincial tournament of the season this past Sunday in Calgary, winning their first two playoff matches before losing the semifinal and bronze medal games.
With the provincial championships set for May 4-5 in Edmonton, they’re feeling confident.
“Last year we were in this position and didn’t (get to the top of Tier 1) until provincials,” said right side Zaira Miller Shackleton. “We’ve got ourselves in a higher seeding.
“We’ve always worked towards the top. We tend to work harder at the end of the season, that’s a given.”
Unless they win provincials, the season’s highlight might have come early, at least from an experience point of view. SEAVC was one of around 900 teams in Las Vegas and wound up 25th in a division of 128. They were a win away from facing Kobe Bryant’s daughter’s team at the massive Mandalay Bay resort.
“That was phenomenal,” said Bloomfield. “The top teams from Arizona, we played. We got hot the last day, did a lot better than we hoped.”
They weren’t the only team in Vegas from Medicine Hat, either. The newly formed Medicine Hat Volleyball Club had an under-18 team there which finished 41st out of 176 teams.
Between the two clubs, 12 teams competed in the most recent set of provincial tournaments. With provincials taking place over the next few weeks, that means a lot of travel and a lot of players looking to finish strong.
“That’s our main focus now,” said Miller Shackleton.
Among the teams ranked near the top of their divisions, the SEAVC Rattlers White took second in 14-under Division 2 back in March, while the Rattlers Bytes won Division 4. MHVC’s Black 16-under team was fourth in Division 2 this past weekend, unbeaten all weekend until the semifinals.