The YRHS Raiders could not get the bounces to go their way during their home volleyball tournament this past weekend resulting in an early departure from their home competition.
The Raiders came out slow in their first game of the tournament, eventually dropping a straight sets decision to Melville in the closest way possible, losing the first set 23-25 before being edged in the second set by the exact same 23-25 score.
聽A three set loss to Weyburn in their second game, 19-25, 31-29, 10-15, left the Raiders desperately needing a win on the first day of competition; a win that they found at the expense of the Balgonie Greenall Griffins as the Raiders battled back from down one set to take the game in three, losing 20-25 in the first set before winning the second 25-19 and third 15-5.
A close 23-25, 19-25, straight sets loss to Brandon Crocus Plains left the Raiders in fourth place after the round-robin, meaning the Regional had to compete in a play-in game against their Gladstone Avenue rivals the Sacred Heart Saints for the right to compete in the playoffs.
The Raiders took the first set of the highly competitive rivalry match 29-27 before dropping the second set 23-25 after previously battling back from a six point deficit to tie the set at 15.
The YRHS jumped out to a quick 7-3 lead in the deciding set and didn鈥檛 look back from there, maintaining their lead the rest of the way for a 15-12 third set victory.
That win sent the Regional to the quarterfinals where they met the Oxbow Black Knights, and despite a strong start to the quarterfinal game the Raiders simply could not keep up the pace, falling to the B Pool champions in straight sets 12-25, 14-25, to end their 2015 home tournament.
Following the completion of the final game YRHS Raider head coach Brendon Weir told Yorkton This Week that he felt his team somewhat stumbled out of the gates on Friday, which set the tone for the rest of the weekend. 鈥淲e started off slow and that put ourselves in a bad position come playoff wise,鈥� said Weir, adding that the Raiders seemed to play at their opponents鈥� level for much of the tournament. 鈥淲e played down to some teams鈥� levels and then played up and competed against the better teams like Weyburn and Crocus Plains but ended up losing both of those games in tough sets and placed fourth in our pool which led us into a four vs. five game against Sacred Heart.鈥�
Weir said that playing in that play-in game was the beginning of the end for the Raiders, as the winner had to immediately take to the court again for another game against a team that would have had ample time to recuperate. 鈥淲hen you鈥檙e one of the top teams you earn some rest, but when you鈥檙e placing near the bottom you don鈥檛 get that rest and on the second day of the tournament rest is big,鈥� offered the Raider head coach. 鈥淲e placed near the bottom so we had to go right back to competing, and while I didn鈥檛 think it was that big of an issue for us we were still a bit tired and we made some mental errors that cost us some points.鈥�
The Raiders now have to quickly forget about this past weekend鈥檚 results and focus on this coming weekend, when they travel to Estevan for the 2015 5A 麻豆传媒AV Region playoffs. 鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be a tough tournament,鈥� said Weir of the Regional competition. 鈥淲e can鈥檛 afford to lose these games, but I think if we play to our abilities then we have a good chance of moving on to Provincials.鈥�
The Raiders will join four other teams that competed at their home tournament - Estevan, Moose Jaw Peacock, Balgonie Greenall and Weyburn 鈥� as well as Moose Jaw Central and Swift Current at the 麻豆传媒AV Region playoffs in Estevan with the top three teams moving on to the 2015 5A Provincials in Swift Current.
