The St. Albert Skyhawks are double trouble in high school volleyball.
The men’s and women’s varsity teams are both undefeated in the metro Edmonton league.
The men are 5-0 in the city conference after sweeping the Archbishop MacDonald Marauders (3-2) in Wednesday’s best-of-five match at the SkyDome.
“It’s been our willingness not to quit that’s put us on top,” said captain Ryan Beztilny. “We’ve also had some really good coaching and that’s helped a lot too.”
The Skyhawks played a complete match against the Marauders.
“Everything really came together,” Beztilny said. “Our passing defence was incredible. They had a couple of really good hitters and we were able to dig their balls and that really helped us and took them out of the game.”
The lady Skyhawks improved to 3-0 in the premier conference in Wednesday’s 13-25, 25-16, 26-24, 13-25, 15-10 thriller against the visiting Holy Trinity Trojans (2-1).
“Holy Trinity is one of the top teams in the league so it shows we’re one of the top teams too,” said captain Amber Easthope. “The match was a little bumpy for us. Our consistency wasn’t there but we did finish strong, which was good.”
The lady Skyhawks are expected to contend for a premier championship and a berth at the 3A provincials. Last year they finished 8-3 in premier and bowed out in the quarter-finals. At zones they lost to Holy Trinity in the semifinals.
“We have a lot of club girls and we’re one of those teams that are out there to win,” said Easthope, a Grade 12 power. “So far it’s been awesome. We have a great group of girls and our success has been good too.”
The men have only dropped one set in five matches and that was against the Fort Saskatchewan Sting (4-1) last week at home.
“We weren’t playing that good,” said Beztilny of the 25-21 loss in the opening set.
The Grade 12 power is among several returning players from the team’s fourth-place 7-3 result in league play.
“The past few years we’ve had the talent and the skill, we just haven’t put the two together. This year it really seems like we understand that we can be great,” Beztilny said. “After last year when we lost in the semifinals in the provincial (3A) qualifiers it really showed us what a good team we can be and it really gave us motivation for this year to come out even harder.”
The big test will be the Oct. 31 match in Leduc against the Tigers (5-0), a 3A foe to end the regular season.
“They’ve proven they’re going to be the top team in our division so it’s going to be a great game. Hopefully it will be a deciding game to see who finishes one-two,” Beztilny said.
The men picked up their play after a middle of the pack finish at the pre-season Griffin Invitational Tournament in Calgary.
“We lost a lot of tight games, like two points in the deciding set. It wasn’t how we wanted it to be but we took a lot out of it. We’re not going to let that happen again so we’re constantly working and keeping it in the back of our minds. We know we’re better than where we finished,” said Beztilny, 17.
The lady Skyhawks finished first overall.
“Calgary was really good for team bonding. It also showed the potential we do have. We came out and played our best and we saw our best is very good,” Easthope said. “After the tournament we really concentrated on getting our energy up and that’s been helping us out a lot in our league games.”
The next tournament is the 18th annual Lions Western Canadian Challenge, starting Thursday at 1 p.m. at the SkyDome and the Bellerose and Morinville high schools.
“The last two years I’ve played in it it’s been one of the better experiences,” Beztilny said. “I’m looking for our team to do a lot better than we have in it. I think we’re going to be a dark horse. We’re in the city conference and there are a lot of premier teams in it but I believe we can compete with a lot of the teams. Even though we might be a lot smaller we have big hearts.”
“We’re excited to be playing in front of our school. We’ll get a lot of people cheering for us and we’ll show our school what we’re made of. It will be fun,” added Easthope, 17.
