Volleyball notes, September 24 and 25, 2012

Spirit!  The Matthew Halton Hawks 
C. Davis photo

Chris Davis and Josh Davis, Pincher Creek Voice

Senior/SV Boys: Dragons vs Coalhurst Trojans

The St. Michael's Dragons
C. Davis photo

On Monday September 24 the St. Michael's Boys JV and Senior Dragons played their first home volleyball games versus their Coalhurst Trojans counterparts at the Dale Wentz Memorial Gymnasium at St. Michael's School.

Dragons vs Trojans
J. Davis photo

St. Michael's does not have enough grade 10 and 11 students signed up to make a JV team, and grade 12 students are ineligible to play JV.  St. Michael's will be forfeiting all their league JV games this season unless they can pick up at least 2 more JV players.  However, they still play the JV games to give their younger players some experience.

Both teams acquitted themselves well during the 3 JV sets, and Coalhurst is to be commended for standing up so well to the somewhat older competition.

The Senior Dragons won all three sets against the Trojans, but not easily. The first set they won 25-18.  The second set could have gone either way, with both teams neck and neck throughout, and the Dragons just edging the Trojans 25-23.  The third set too was very close, but the Dragons prevailed 25-18.

Afterwards Dragons Coach Tony Bruder said “They played, I’m gonna say 75% of their ability. Right now we’ve got some really good hitting. We’ve got some pretty good strengths all the way around when their heads are in the game. But, at this age, sometimes their heads fall away.  We were short of players from Saint Michael’s, so we brought one from Matthew Halton, and one from Lundbreck.”

“We had a tournament last weekend in Banff, and we placed second."

The Dragons tradition of strong teamwork continues.

Senior/SV Girls Hawks vs F.P. Walshe Flyers

A serious moment with the Hawks
C. Davis photo

Across town on September 24 the Matthew Halton JV and SV Hawks had less success against their Fort Macleod F.P. Walshe Flyers counterparts. The Flyers won all three JV sets, with scores of 25-20, 25-13, and 25-19.  They won all three SV (Senior) sets too, but Hawks Coach Tanis French said they still had reason to be proud of themselves.

"So Fort Macleod is a really tough team," French said. "We played them at pre-season, and they beat us like 25-3 every game. So (tonight) the first game they won, but it was only 25 to 20, the second game was 25 to 7, and that last game was 25 to 21."  A major improvement.  French explained that there wasn't a girls volleyball team at Matthew Halton last year. "So this year is a training year for the most part. "We have a bunch of people who should have played last year but didn’t, so for us to play against Walsh and be 20–25…”

What the Hawks lacked in experience they seem to make up in enthusiasm, and this will be a team to watch this season as they find their legs on the volleyball court.  As they definitely demonstrated last season, the Flyers are the team to beat.


St. Michael’s Junior A Boys Dragons vs Piikani

Dragons vs Piikani
J. Davis photo

On Tuesday, September 25 the St. Michael's Junior A Dragons hosted Piikani at the Dale Wentz Memorial Gymnasium.

Dragons #9 Michael Svab
J. Davis photo

In general the Dragons had smaller players and didn't look like much competition for the Piikani team during their warm up, but when they hit the floor for the first set the Dragons were definitely dominant.  Dragons #9 Michael Svab repeatedly delivered a ferocious serve, and the Dragons took the set by a score of 26-6.

In the second set the Piikani team got their groove back, and quickly rose to a 10-4 lead.  After a timeout the Dragons regrouped and started to catch up, bringing the score to 12-12. The teams remained neck and neck for most of the set after that. At the second timeout the score stood 17–15 for the Dragons. The two teams stayed closely matched for the rest of the set, with the Dragons ultimately winning it  25–21.

The third set started out as a virtual repeat of the first, with Piikani taking a 10 – 5 early on. They remained ahead, but the Dragons started catching up, bringing the score to 13 – 10. At the first timeout, the score was 19 – 11 for Piikani. The Dragon’s teamwork was starting to fall apart, and the players were getting in each other’s way. The Dragons started pulling themselves together, bringing the score up to 21 – 16 for Piikani. Near the end of the set the score stood tied at 23–23.  The Dragons managed to get 2 more points for the win for a final score of 25–23, taking the day three straight, but by a very narrow margin.

Dragons #7 Mitchell Zoratti
J. Davis photo

The A Boys Dragons are scheduled to play Livingstone in Lundbreck on Thursday evening.

“I thought they played pretty good tonight," said Dragons Assistant Coach Josh Hilliard. "There are a few things we still have to work on, but overall they were better than last week. So, we’re making improvements. Overall they were pretty good. Mitchell Zorratti and Micheal Svab both were really good in their serving tonight."