The Paul Kane Blues are serving up a tradition of excellence in high school women's volleyball during their playoff run towards another premier crown.
A victory Monday against the Ardrossan Bisons would propel the 2010 champions into their third metro Edmonton premier final in four years after finishing first overall in league play for the second time in three years.
"We want to get first again. That's really our ultimate goal and I definitely think we can do it," said Hailey Lutz, a Grade 12 setter for the 11-1 Blues.
The semifinal against the fifth-place Bisons (9-3) starts at 4:45 p.m. at Paul Kane High School.
The Blues needed four sets to tame the Bisons in the Sept. 26 home opener at Paul Kane.
The Bisons are coming off a grueling 25-23, 25-21, 23-25, 22-25, 15-4 triumph over the St. Albert Skyhawks in Wednesday's quarter-final marathon at the SkyDome. The 2011 Lions Western Canadian Challenge tournament champions are led by a strong middle and above-average powers. They also like to grind teams down with a tenacious defence.
"It's going to be super tough," said Lutz, 17. "They're a strong team. It will be a battle."
The winner will play the Bev Facey Falcons (11-1) or the Holy Trinity Trojans (10-2) in the Nov. 12 final. Game time is 5 p.m. at Austin O'Brien High School.
The metro champion receives an automatic berth at the 4A provincials, Nov. 24 to 26 at Strathcona Composite High School.
If the Blues fail to repeat, they will still compete in the Nov. 16 Edmonton zone elimination tournament against a team from the Edmonton public league. Two teams from the zone qualifier will join the metro and public league champions at provincials.
Last year the Blues placed eighth at provincials as the second zone qualifier after finishing seventh the year before as the third zone rep.
"It would mean absolutely everything to us to go there again," said Lutz.
The third-year starter for the senior Blues is one of five returning players from the first premier women's volleyball championship team in school history.
"We definitely have the potential to get to the finals again," she said.
In Wednesday's playoff opener the Blues swept the Sturgeon Spirits 30-28, 25-10, 25-11 at Paul Kane.
The eighth-place Spirits (3-9) played like a team with nothing to lose in the first set against the heavily favoured Blues. After the Blues clawed back to go ahead 21-20, both teams took turns swapping points. Grade 12 all-star Whitney Follette tied it at 25 with a block and then later evened the score at 28 with a big spike. A serve by Maddi Aguis that handcuffed the Spirits and a massive block by Follette wrapped up the set.
The rest of the match was anticlimactic as the Blues buckled down to complete the sweep.
"It started off a little bit shaky for us and I can't really explain why that happened," Lutz said. "After the first set we were all warmed up and ready to get back in it."
The quarter-final was a rematch of Monday's three-set win at home by the Blues in their last game before the playoffs. The result also clinched first place for the fourth-ranked 4A team in Alberta.
"They did make a couple of changes, which kind of surprised us, but we got through it," Lutz said.
The Blues started peaking for the playoffs with a second-place finish at the Salisbury Sabres' tournament last weekend.
"I definitely think we're at one of our highest points in the year. The Sal final is the first final we were in all season. It gave us such a big high and we want to be in another final this year again," Lutz said.
The Blues dropped a 25-16, 22-25, 13-15 decision to Facey in the final after sweeping the third-ranked 4A team in the round robin.
"It kind of sucked losing to Facey in the final because we had beat them twice before," Lutz said. "We're pumped if we ever see Facey again."
The highlight of the year for the Blues was their 19-25, 18-25, 25-17, 25-20, 17-15 thriller against Facey last week in Sherwood Park.
"Honestly, it was just awesome to beat them because it was the first time we played them this year," Lutz said. "We've been in many tournaments with them so we were just so excited to play them and for us to beat them was a great victory."
With first place on the line the Blues refused to lose.
"The first two sets it was a little shaky but then we came back in the third and won and got our confidence back up," Lutz said. "We built up such a big lead in the fifth at 11-3, and then I kind of think our minds just weren't there. We thought we had already beat them. They came back and fought hard but we pulled away with the victory."
Paul Kane boys
The Paul Kane senior boys advanced to the premier semifinals after knocking off the Holy Trinity Trojans in five sets Wednesday at Holy Trinity. Monday's playoff against Facey starts at 6:15 p.m. in Sherwood Park.
The final is Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. at Austin O'Brien.
Facey, ranked third in 4A, is undefeated in 10 matches in premier. Last week Facey swept the Blues at home.
The Blues are 5-5 after defeating the fifth-place Trojans.
