The St. Albert Skyhawks are poised to make school history in metro Edmonton senior women’s volleyball.
The first division one/premier banner is within striking distance for the undefeated Skyhawks in today’s final against the Jasper Place Rebels.
The first serve is 5 p.m. at Strathcona Composite High School.
“We can take the challenge and win that banner,” said Grade 11 middle Lauren Cardinal, after the Skyhawks swept the Strathcona Lords in Thursday’s semifinal at the SkyDome.
“It’s really important to us, especially since St. Albert High is undefeated in division one. It’s a big deal for our school and for our team. It’s like we’re making history,” Cardinal said of the 14-0 (42 GW/12 GL) Skyhawks. “It’s definitely a great way to represent our school really well and how great of a volleyball program we are. We’re always known for basketball so it’s great that volleyball is rising to the occasion now.”
The last championship for the senior women’s team was 2001, the second of two city conference/division two banners since the formation of the metro league in 1988/89.
“Honestly, it’s exhilarating right now for us,” said Grade 11 power-hitter Kacey Jost. “We work so hard together all the time. It’s one hundred per cent effort in practice and it shows when we play.”
A division one championship would propel the Skyhawks into the 3A provincials, Nov. 26 to 28 in Bonnyville.
A loss would put the Skyhawks in the eight-team 3A Edmonton zone tournament next weekend as the No. 1 seed to determine the two provincial reps.
The last two years at provincials, the Skyhawks finished fifth in 2014 and were the 2013 silver medallists in their tournament debut.
“If we stick to the plan and stay true to ourselves we definitely have a great chance of winning,” Cardinal said. “We have to stick to what we are great at or else we’ll miss that chance.”
The Rebels (11-3) finished in a three-way tie for second place as the No. 2 playoff seed.
The third win of the season for the Skyhawks was a five-set decision against the Rebels on Sept. 30 in St. Albert.
“JP is very strong offensively and defensively they’re a very well rounded team,” Cardinal said. “They got tired really fast when we played against them but that was at the very beginning of the season so they could’ve changed like we changed throughout the season.”
The final is shaping up to be a barnburner.
“We kind of have a rivalry going on with them,” Jost said. “JP has such a deep bench. Everybody on that team can play volleyball so against them it will be just who comes out on top in terms of working hard and who is putting the ball in play.”
The Skyhawks turned in a near flawless performance against the Lords (10-4) after surviving a massive scare in Monday’s quarter-final against the Memorial Marauders (6-7), a team they swept in league play. The Skyhawks dropped the opening two sets and trailed 24-21 in the next set before mounting a memorable comeback charge to remain undefeated.
“We didn't want to feel that way again because obviously when you go undefeated for the whole season you kind of have a target on your back,” Jost said. “Memorial played super well so what we had to do was just take how that felt and our intensity in that game and try and work on building on it in this game.”
Scores were 25-19, 25-12, 25-17 against the Lords.
“It was like textbook volleyball. We were tactical with our plays because they had a big block in the middle so we had to work around her and pound it into the ground,” Cardinal said. “We played smart volleyball and found their weaknesses on the court so that was probably why we swept them in three. We didn’t let them back in at all. They had a couple of runs but then we got back to business and fixed our errors.”
Cardinal, 16, and Alexis Anderson stood tall in the middle and Jost, co-captain Julia Donnelly and Julia Kormysh led the hit parade with co-captain Jamie Bain doing the setting.
Jost, 15, Kormysh and libero Olivia Brassard also provided stellar defensive support.
Serving was another strength, with Jost, Kormysh and Bain at the forefront. Jost in particular was smoking the ball with lethal right-handed leaping strikes.
“We just served consistently and hard. We picked our spots really well and put them in trouble,” said Jost, who spiked the ball for the Leduc Tigers last year. “All our skills were just clean. We passed, we set and we put the ball away. Obviously they had a large front row and we’re a little team so we just went for smart plays. We played our game and didn’t sit back and let them do what we did to them.”
