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The Sacred Heart Lady Saints senior girls volleyball team concluded their 2011 season at the 4A girls regional playoffs in Oxbow recently.

Their first match saw the Lady Saints beat Moosomin in their first match of the round robin, but then lost a hard fought match to Melville, said coach Perry Enns. Sacred Heart finished second in their pool and advanced to the semi-finals to face the host Oxbow team, who had finished first in their pool.

The young Lady Saints played very well against a veteran Oxbow team, says Enns, but lost two straight to end their season.

"It was encouraging that the only two teams to beat us were the two teams who advanced to provincials" he said."I was very surprised with the performance of our team all season long. With nine rookies on the team I felt this was going to be a rebuilding year, but we advanced into the playoffs in every tournament we competed in and we even won gold in Canora. "

Three players will graduate from the roster of the Lady Saints.

Mariel Kotyk, team captain, played the power hitter position and led the team in spike kills. She was one of the team's leaders defensively providing timely digs and never letting a ball hit the floor.

Katie Coleridge has played with the Lady Saints for the past three seasons. She delivered some great blocks and big hits from the starting Right Side position. Brianna Ostafie joined the Lady Saints this season and played the Middle position. She led the team in blocks and she was a leader defensively always making clean passes and digging the hard-hit balls while in the back row.

"I would like to thank Mariel, Katie and Brianna for all the hard work and leadership they gave the team this year. We will miss our three graduating players but I think the future looks bright for the Lady Saints we have a strong core of players returning next year."