The Sacred Heart Senior Girls Volleyball team traveled to Estevan this weekend for the seven team Estevan Elecs Invitational. The first match of the tournament was against a strong team from Oxbow. The Lady Saints possibly stiff from the long drive started slow and lost game one 11 - 25, but rebounded with a better effort in game two losing 21 - 25. Sacred Heart went on to win the next three matches defeating Midale, Carlyle and the Estevan B's.
Saturday morning the Lady Saints faced Swift Current, losing a very close game one 26 - 28 and then game two 22 - 25. The final match of the round robin was against the host team from Estevan. Sacred Heart took game one 25 - 20, but dropped a close second game 24 - 26, which placed the Sacred Heart in fourth place.
In the Quarter finals SHHS faced Carlyle and won two straight 25 - 12 and 25 - 15 to advance to the Semi finals. It was d茅j脿 vu as the Lady Saints faced first place Swift Current for the second weekend in a row in a semi final match. Swift Current had defeated SHHS in three games last weekend, but the Lady Saints were determined to get the win this time. Swift Current took an early lead in game one, but the Lady Saints fought back and took game one 25 - 20 then stayed in control to win game two 25 - 21 and advance to the final.
The Lady Saints now had to play their fourth match in a row against Oxbow in the Gold Medal final. The two evenly matched teams put on an amazing match for the crowd with several lead changes and many outstanding rallies. In game one Oxbow jumped out to an early lead, up by 8 points, but the Lady Saints closed the gap tying the game at 21 - 21. The teams traded points and Sacred Heart came out on top winning game one 26 - 24. Game two began the same way with Oxbow again taking the lead.
Exhaustion was becoming a problem for the Lady Saints who struggled to keep pace with Oxbow down 9 points. But in a carbon copy of game one the Lady Saints battled back late in the game to tie the game at 21 - 21 and then push on to victory winning 25 - 23 and claiming the Championship.
Coach Perry Enns said "This tournament was a true test of our team's character. Having to play four matches in a row was obviously exhausting and the fact that the team showed their heart by never giving up was great to see." "Kylie Chupa and Mariel Kotyk provided a consistent attack from the power position and Bailee Skikewich continued to lead the team as the starting setter. Alex Thompson took on the role of Libero this weekend and she excelled in that position making several key defensive plays."
The Lady Saints will next travel to Regina to take part in a tournament at O'Neill High School on Oct. 15 & 16.
