The Sacred Heart Lady Saints proved that hard work in practice equals results on the court this past weekend at the annual YRHS Ladies鈥� Volleyball tournament.
The Saints - coached by Perry Enns 鈥� went 5-7 throughout the round-robin portion of the tournament, dropping straight sets defeats to the YRHS Sr. Lady Raiders 18-25, 23-25,Oxbow Knights 20-25, 19-25 and Langenburg Screamin鈥� Eagles 18-25, 22-25, while picking up a straight sets victories over the YRHS. Jr. Lady Raiders, dropping the younger squad 25-14, 25-8, and the Melville Cobras 25-14, 25-14.
The Lady Saints also split one game, taking the first set against a tough Foam Lake Panthers team 25-20 before losing the second set 16-25.
That 5-7 record was good enough for a fifth place seeding after round-robin, meaning the Saints had to take on fourth-ranked Langenburg in the first round of the playoffs.
Sacred Heart looked to avenge their earlier round-robin loss to Langenburg with a playoff win; something they did in straight sets 25-19, 26-24 to send them to the semi-finals against their Gladstone Avenue rivals the YRHS Sr. Lady Raiders.
The Saints dropped the first set to the top-ranked Raiders 17-25, but responded with a hard fought 25-22 win in the second set to force a third and deciding set.
Unfortunately for the Lady Saints fatigue took over, resulting in a 7-15 loss to the eventual champion Lady Raiders.
Following the tournament Saints鈥� coach Perry Enns said that while the Saints lost, they did so while putting together one of their best displays of volleyball this season. 鈥淥verall this was our best showing of the season,鈥� offered Enns. 鈥淲e have eight rookies on the team but the Lady Saints have advanced to the playoffs in every tournament this year and have advanced to the semi-finals for two tournaments in a row.鈥�
Enns also mentioned that the Lady Saints managed to advance to the semi-finals despite several girls playing out of position. 鈥淲e made some roster changes and moved some players to new positions and they responded with some great plays. J.J Chogata played libero and she was fantastic on defense,鈥� said Enns. 鈥淒arrian Enns moved to the power position and she was dominate at the net recording her highest number of kills this season.
鈥淣icole Redl continued in her role as setter and she had her best showing of the season and Chelsea Spilchuk continued to hammer the ball as the other Power hitter.鈥�
The Lady Saints will host their home tournament October 23 and 24 at Sacred Heart High School.
