The St. Albert Skyhawks are searching for an identity at the 20th annual Lions Western Canadian Challenge.
The metro Edmonton division two men’s volleyball team is anxious to see how good it really is before league play resumes.
“What we’re looking for right now is a good finish, which would be great to show who we are,” said Nick Cuciz, a Grade 12 setter with the 4-1 pool B Skyhawks. “Hopefully we’ll get on the A side (of the tournament) and we’ll try our best to place. There are so many good teams though so it will be difficult. If that doesn’t go through then at least we want to win consolation.”
In the 24-team men’s draw the Skyhawks were grouped with the Edwin Parr Predators of Athabasca, Ponoka Broncs, Lloydminster Barons, R.F. Staples Thunderbirds of Westlock and the Archbishop MacDonald Marauders, a metro pool B opponent.
The top two finishers in the four men’s pools move on to the round of 16 in today’s playoffs. The winners advance to the quarter-finals and the losers are slotted into the consolation bracket.
Morinville Community High School is the venue for the men’s semifinals at 5:30 p.m., the third-place match at 7 p.m. and the final at 8 p.m.
The consolation final is 7 p.m. at Georges H. Primeau School in Morinville.
Visit www.mchs.gsacrd.ab.ca for schedules and results.
“This is a great tournament to get some reps in,” said Cuciz after Thursday’s 25-22, 25-23 lid-lifter against a solid Edwin Parr team at the SkyDome. “It was a big win for us. It’s a good indication now that we can go very far in our league play.”
Cuciz, 17, is one of four Grade 12s on a 12-man roster bolstered by six returnees from last year’s 5-5 overall showing in division two.
“There is more potential this year and it goes back to being a well-rounded team I believe this year,” Cuciz said. “Last year we had some great players and some great Grade 12s that I was sad to see leave and this year we have a lot of players come up and really take their spots well.”
Cuciz joins middle Andrew Salcedo and power Noah Lubberding as the only Skyhawks remaining from the 2012 city conference championship team,
“We have a fresh squad this year with a lot of Grade 10s and a few Grade 11s and right now we’re based on Grade 12s with our starting lineup,” Cuciz said. “We’re a strong structured team. Everybody all around are great players and basically what we’re doing is just getting out there and playing.”
Despite the strong sense of team unity the Skyhawks are not a chatty bunch on the court.
“We’re not that talkative of a team so we’ve got to force ourselves to basically play with energy. When we get excited we play well,” said Cuciz.
He has a variety of options when teeing the ball up for Lubberding and Grade 12 power A.J. Armstrong, two elite level golfers, and Salcedo, a standout basketball player, to pound into the floor.
“It’s great to have that because then teams can’t key on anybody and that’s really important as a setter. You’ve got to keep the middle guessing and that is what’s great about having a variety of hitters,” said Cuciz, who was on the same Skyhawks’ golf team as Lubberding that finished fourth overall in the 4A/3A male division at the recent Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association championships.
As the Skyhawks approach the end of the season, Cuciz expects the team will rise to the challenge with a 3A provincial berth hanging in the balance. In league play, they share top spot in pool B with the Marauders, St. Peter the Apostle Spartans and St. Francis Xavier Rams. The Skyhawks still have to play the Marauders and Rams, plus the 2-3 Sturgeon Spirits. The only loss was 3-1 to the Spartans, the first team to win sets against them.
“That is the strongest team we’ve played so far. It’s very hard as a team to go through some easy matches and have some fun and then go up against a really good team so it was a big wakeup call for all of us. We played our hearts out but we realize now what we have to do to achieve success,” Cuciz said.
