The Sacred Heart High School (SHHS) senior girls volleyball team took part in the 32-team University of Regina Autumn Classic High School Tournament this past weekend as Saskatchewan High School Athletics Association (SHSAA) continued into week two.
SHHS had a different look since four of the team's top players stayed in Yorkton to play soccer, so it was a very young team that competed in Regina.
Sacred Heart began tournament play in a very tough pool losing three matches in a row to Major Pratt of Russell, MB, Vanier of Moose Jaw and Sheldon Williams of Regina.
"Even though we placed fourth in our pool I was very happy with the way the team played. We were able to get up to 18 or 19 pts against every team so they were all close matches," wrote Perry Enns, SHHS coach.
On Saturday, SHHS was placed into Tier Two and the first match of the morning the Lady Saints faced O'Neill High School of Regina losing another close match 24 - 26 and 18 - 25.
The Saints then defeated Gull Lake 25 - 10 and 25 - 19 to advance to the B-side semi finals.
In the Semi's SHHS faced Invermay winning 27 - 25 and 25 - 18 to advance to the final. Riding a two match win streak Sacred Heart faced Miller High School of Regina winning 25 - 19 and 25 - 23 to win the B - side championship.
"I was extremely happy with the play of our young team. The team showed so much improvement from the first match to the end of the tournament. I was impressed with our Gr. 10 players who showed very well and showed a lot of potential.
Lauren Leshchyshyn was awesome this weekend. She not only led the team on the court with her play at the net but as the only returning Gr. 12 player with the team this weekend she was a leader off the court helping the new players," reports Enns. SHHS next travels to Estevan on Sept. 28, following their bye week this week. The team will be hosting its home tournament this year on Oct. 19-20 when they will welcome their YRHS nemesis to the HaloDome for a three-set fight.
