The last game of the volleyball tournament was supposed to be a really close match between what was supposed to be the two best teams that competed that weekend.
Turns out that it wasn't even close.
"I thought it would have been closer," offered Brent Brown, coach of the McSweeney's Select 18U girls' volleyball team.
Bringing an end to a warm-up tournament, the Selects and 小蓝视频east Stingers, finishing at 1-2 in the standings going into the last game, was thought to be a little closer then it turned out to be.
"Our hitting is finally coming together," said Brown after the game which saw the Selects almost easily taking out the Stingers.
小蓝视频east had an undefeated record going into Sunday's final game at MC Knoll gymnasium in Yorkton.
"Mariel Kotyk served amazing all weekend," he added. "Everyone was happy with it."
The final volleyball tournament of the season in Yorkton took place over the weekend.
The local volleyball club hosted one last tournament involving nine teams, three of which are based here.
Hosted by the Selects, the 小蓝视频east Stinger, Blitz 18s, Melville, Dauphin, Esterhazy, the Oxbow Black Knights, Down Under and Blitz 17s played at St. Michael's and MC Knoll.
Games were played over Saturday and Sunday.
Brown said those who made the trip into Yorkton were also happy with the level of play.
"All the coaches were happy with it. It was a good warm up for provincials," said
Brown which are scheduled for Saskatoon this weekend.
Final results for the weekend had the Selects, Stingers and Dauphin Vipers all finish with identical records of 7-1.
"Based on a tie-breaker used, the host Selects get first, Dauphin second, and the 小蓝视频east Stingers claimed third," adds Brown.
"It all came down to the last match scheduled and the Selects needed to win 2-0 and that's what they did."
Setting up the draw, McSweeney's and 小蓝视频east had the best play of the tournament so it made for what should have been a much closer contest.
"It was a pressure (filled) situation and the girls really responded."
Brown pointed out that the results attained haven't always matched the effort put forth but this was clearly not the case here, states Brown.
"It has been the case for a lot of games this year that the team hasn't performed well when under pressure, but that certainly was not the case as they came out on fire and really dominated the first set with aggressive serving and great net play."
The Selects coach did mention that the second set was a little closer, but "perseverance paid off".
Rounding out the final standings: the Melville Attack 17 team placed in fourth, the Yorkton Blitz 18s came fifth, the Oxbow Black Knights were in sixth place, the Esterhazy Heat finished in seventh, the Blitz 17s were eighth and Down Under came in ninth.
McSweeney's had an interesting challenge when it came time to playing their highway 10 rivals from Melville. Says Brown: "It was an awesome game against Melville. We have a couple of girls who are from Melville on our team and so there were some bragging rights involved in this one."
There is something in the air whenever Yorkton and Melville get together and it probably doesn't have anything to do with what the sport happens to be. According to Brown, this one was fun.
"By far, the most intense and loud game of the weekend."
It was close too, he says. "We started out a little hesitant but battled back through it to claim a two-game victory."
Brown added that the Melville flavour on the Yorkton club actually helped.
"They two players from Melville (Cassandra Sullivan and Trisha Dobson) were key in the victories and they were really excited to be playing against their friends."
Asides from provincials this weekend in Saskatoon, the nationals are also at stake, says Brown, which are to be held in British Columbia next month.
