In a clash between four 9/10 girls high school volleyball teams Wednesday at FH Collins secondary, with each playing doubleheaders, only one team escaped unscathed.
The Porter Creek Rams took home two straight-sets wins, defeating the Vanier Crusaders blue team, 25-11, 25-18, before defeating the Crusaders red team 25-13, 25-21.
“I felt we had parts that were good and parts that needed to be worked on,” said Rams coach Tara Wardle. “The girls served really well.”
The Rams faced the possibility of a lost set during their second game, as the Crusaders red team built a six-point lead midway through the second set.
“We just made some substitutions and mixed things up on the floor a bit,” said Wardle. “We put some new faces on and that seemed to do the trick.”
Both the FHC Warriors and the Crusaders red team split their games.
The Warriors started with a 25-21, 25-21 loss the red Crusaders, but bounced back for 25-23, 25-11 win of the blue Crusaders.
“What won it for us was serves,” said Warriors coach Ken Kuni. “We did really well on our serves. Some of them were almost unreturnable and we did really well at that — in the second (set) especially.”
Although the blue Crusaders failed to pick up a set, their coach, Kevin Harms, is proud of the candor in which his players carried themselves.
“They played really well, they kept their spirits up the whole time, which is good,” said Harms. “A good attitude is always encouragement for winning.”
The coaches are not concerned with the outcomes of the matches. Instead, they feel the regular season is a means to prepare for upcoming tournaments such as the Dawson City Championships taking place in November.
“We’re looking good, we’re working towards the Dawson Championships,” said FHC coach Ken Kuni. “I never concern myself with wins and losses early in the season. It’s getting the team together, getting them used to playing with each other.”
“(It) was an opportunity for all 12 of my players to play and I just mixed the lineup, so it wasn’t a consistent starting six that we would normally play with,” said Wardle. “It was just a mix of everybody all the time, getting as much equal playing time that we could get.”