Sacred Heart High School鈥檚 senior boys鈥� volleyball team travelled to the University of Regina on September 18-19 where they competed in the annual high school tournament.
The tournament consisted of 20 teams broken up into four pools of five teams each.
Sacred Heart鈥檚 pool consisted of Winston Knoll Collegiate (Regina), Kincaid, Herbert, and Miller Comprehensive High School (Regina).
On Friday the Saints started the tournament by playing Herbert. The Saints team easily controlled the match winning 25-18, 25-14. Nick Kerr showed some strong serving to start the tournament.
In the next match, Sacred faced off against Winston Knoll. In the first set Sacred came out strong winning 25-17. Cody Doll and Bryan Buzinski played hard at the net laying down some big hits for the team. Half way through the second set Winston Knoll pulled away taking the second set 25-15. In the third set, Sacred had a hard time controlling Winston Knoll鈥檚 left power hitter and lost 8-15.
On Saturday Sacred started by playing Miller. Sacred Heart won the first set 25-21. In the second set Miller took an early 1-11 point lead with some strong float serves before they took the second set 25-13.
In the third and final set Sacred rallied showing some good blocking by Jake Javier. Kade Johnson set up some nice plays for the Saints to get some hitting at the net but unfortunately Sacred narrowly lost to Miller 14-16.
Next the team played Kincaid. Sacred did an excellent job to control Kincaid鈥檚 left power hitter as Johnson led the team with four blocks, earning the Saints four points. Sacred won in two straight sets 25-19 and 25-20.
After round robin play Sacred Heart was third in their pool which put them into the consolation playoffs.
In the first round of playoffs, the Saints played Campbell Collegiate-Regina. Sacred struggled with their serving game in the first set, but Javier did a great job positioning the ball for the team winning the first set 25-17. In the second set Jonah Sutter came out swinging from the middle position and he laid down some bomb shells. Sutter鈥檚 hits kept the momentum on Sacred鈥檚 side and the Saints won the second set 25-17.
In the Consolation final Sacred Heart came up against Estevan. Sutter came out flying again with strong hitting as Estevan struggled to return the middle hits with Sutter earning five kill points at the net. Sacred took the first set 25-23.
In the second set Sacred Heart controlled the net with Kerr and Sutter leading the way blocking Estevan鈥檚 left power hitters. This left Estevan frustrated as they had lost their hitting game. Then Kaeden Hanishewsky showcased some great serving for the Saints to take the consolation final winning 25-18.
鈥淥verall the Saints showed some big improvements throughout the weekend as they played an aggressive net game,鈥� said coach Curtis Moen. 鈥淩ookies Grady Hawkins and Nathan Cochrane did a good job to improve their court positioning and to get some hits at the net.鈥�
The next game action for the Saints is on September 25-26 when the team travels to Humboldt.
