Both the YRHS Raiders senior girls and the SHHS Saints senior girls' volleyball teams suffered the same fate this past weekend, falling in the semi-finals of the Raiders home tournament.
But while both teams eventually exited at the same point, their journey to the semi-finals was much different.
Raiders
The Raiders' journey to the semi-finals was far more successful than their Yorkton counterparts, winning four of their six round-robin games in straight sets. Falling victim to the Lady Raiders were Langenburg (25-12, 25-17), Esterhazy (25-15, 25-16), Foam Lake (25-21, 25-21) and the Saints (25-20, 25-21).
In fact the Lady Raiders only lost three sets in the entire round-robin, splitting their game with Melville 19-25, 25-19 and losing to the Oxbow Black Knights in straight sets 20-25, 23-25 to give them a 9-3 record through pool play and a share of the overall lead.
However the Lady Raiders were issued second place due to their head-to-head record with Oxbow, meaning the Raiders had to wait to see if they'd face the Foam Lake Panthers or the Esterhazy Warriors in the semi-finals.
When the final serve in the Foam Lake/Esterhazy game fell in for a point, the Raiders knew who they'd face.
The Foam Lake Panthers would be the only thing between them and the final at their home tournament.
But the Panthers proved to be too big of an obstacle for the Lady Raiders. Despite taking the first set 25-19 the Raiders simply couldn't defeat Foam Lake again, losing the second set 23-25 before falling 9-15 in the third and final set to unceremoniously eliminate the host Raiders from their own tournament.
"We've always had really good matches against Foam Lake," offered Lady Raiders co-coach Dee Dee Walker following her team's elimination from the tournament. "Last weekend we split with them too. It's just an ongoing battle with them."
And while the loss in the semi-final was not exactly what Walker had in mind for her team at the beginning of the tournament, the positives from the tournament still severely outweigh the negatives. "I think everybody played as well as they could and improved through the weekend.
"The girls really played for the crowd here. Their parents, family and friends that came out really inspired the girls to play hard."
Saints
While the Raiders seemed to cruise through the round-robin this past weekend, their Yorkton counterpart Sacred Heart Saints did not.
Instead the Saints struggled at times, finishing the round-robin with a record of 5-7 and defeating only the Melville Cobras in straight sets by identical 25-23 scores while earning game splits against Langenburg (20-25, 25-17), Esterhazy (25-20, 24-26) and Oxbow (22-25, 25-21) and losing to both the YRHS Raiders (20-25, 21-25) and Foam Lake Panthers (25-19, 25-20).
Their 5-7 record left them in fourth place overall, meaning they had to play a qualifying game against the Melville Cobras to get to the semi-finals.
The Saints proved to be far too much for the Melville girls, downing the Purple and White in straight sets 25-20, 25-13, to advance to the semi-finals where they took on Oxbow.
The Saints traded blows with Oxbow in the first set of the semi-final match, going back and forth until a couple of errors at the net resulted in the Black Knights grabbing hold of the lead and never relinquishing it, taking the first set from the Saints by the slimmest of margins, 25-23.
It seemed as if the Lady Saints were running on fumes in the second set however, ending up on the wrong end of a 25-12 whipping despite some playing some strong volleyball in extended rallies.
Following the elimination match, Saints head coach Perry Enns felt that his girls played tough, especially against Oxbow, but admitted that for some reason they just couldn't find a way to put their opponents away. "We've played Oxbow before. I think this is our third time meeting them this year and we've had really good matches with them," offered Enns, continuing, "We've beat them in a set here and there, but just haven't been able to close out the match against them."
But while his girls may not have found success at the YRHS tournament, Enns still believes that they have shown improvements.
Enns then singled out one girl in particular that he thought has improved with each tournament. "Nicole Redl has done a very good job as a grade 11 girl," suggested Enns of his hard working setter. "She's never really been a setter before but she's taken on that role and has worked really hard and done really well for being in such a tough position and being a brand new player at that position as well."
Up next
Both the Lady Raiders and Lady Saints will take the upcoming weekend off for Thanksgiving before getting back at it the following weekend. The Raiders will be in Balgonie for a tournament then, while the Saints host their home tournament in preparation for the SHSAA Conference playoffs, which they will host in early November.
