The Sacred Heart High School Lady Saints senior girls' volleyball team made the nearly 11 hour journey to La Loche this past weekend to take part in the 2014 SHSAA 4A Girls' Provincial championship.
The Saints were one of five teams in Group B. Also in Group B were Caronport, Lumsden, Unity and Birch Hills while Group A consisted of Waldheim, Watrous, Tisdale, Melville and the host school from La Loche.
The first match of the tournament saw the Lady Saints take on the Lumsden Angels. A slow start in the first set allowed Lumsden to grab an early lead and never relinquish it en route to a 12-25 Saints opening set loss.
But if Lumsden thought the second set would be just as easy, they were sorely mistaken as the Saints came flying out of the gates for the second set, taking a commanding lead before holding off a strong Angel comeback to take the second set 25-21.
The two teams traded points back and forth in the final set, however Lumsden was able to string together a few more points in quick succession resulting in a 21-25 set three loss for Sacred Heart.
Slow starts in the first set seemed to be the norm for the Lady Saints on Friday in La Loche as the Saints struggled in the opening set in their next two games, losing 15-25 against both Unity and Caronport.
But just like their first match the second set in both games proved to be much more difficult for the Saints' opposition. Unfortunately for the Lady Saints, they just couldn't get the job done resulting in a 23-25 setback in set two to Unity and a 21-25 defeat in set two to the eventual Group B champion and Provincial runners up from Caronport.
The three losses left the Saints with a 0-3 record heading into Saturday's all-important final round-robin game against Birch Hills (0-3). Should the Saints win, they'd be off to the playoff round.
But if they lost, they'd be on the bus back to Yorkton much earlier than they would have expected.
Knowing the consequences of a loss, the girls came out guns blazing, taking the first set from Birch Hills 25-16 before defeating Birch Hills in the second set by the slimmest of margins, 25-23 to advance to the quarterfinals where they met the Group A champion Waldheim Warriors.
The Lady Saints were in tough against a very talented Waldheim squad losing 9-25 in the opening set thanks to yet another slow start.
A stronger performance in the second set proved to everyone that the Lady Saints deserved to be in the tournament, however it was too little, too late as Waldheim managed to fend off a very game Lady Saints squad in a 19-25 set two result.
The loss eliminated the Lady Saints from the Provincials, however head coach Perry Enns still felt that his girls showed just what they were made of all throughout Provincial play. "Overall it was a great showing at Provincials," offered Enns of his girls' effort this past weekend. "It would have been nice if we could have come out a little stronger in the first set of our matches but anytime you can qualify for Provincials and advance into the playoffs it shows you are one of the top teams in the Province."
Enns then credited the La Loche tournament host committee on a great job well done, saying that the people there made the roughly 1800-kilometre round-trip worth it. "Attending Provincials in La Loche was an amazing experience for the team. It was a long journey traveling over 1800km over 5 days but the host committee at La Loche was amazing," said the Lady Saints' head coach. "From the meals provided to entertainment for the girls to shuttles taking players and parents between the two schools, it was so well planned and organized."
