Although the North Battleford Comprehensive High School senior girls Vikings went winless at 5A provincials on the weekend they do deserve a tap on the back for hosting the event.
"We set a new standard," said Vikings coach Sheila Gabert. She explained with staff volunteers as line judges, announcers and those picking up any odd job it made for a well run tournament.
Also the student hosts for each team got into the action and helped their team as much as possible and cheered them on from their bench. NBCHS also streamed the action live on the internet and nearly 50 people were watching at all times from their computers.
As for the volleyball action itself, the Vikings started against Balgonie. The Vikings trailed for the entire first set, but it was close all the way to 25. After trailing 21-15, the Vikings had Kendra Humenny at the serving line an she pulled them to within four points.
Unfortunately back-to-back double hit calls put the Vikings behind and they dropped the first set 25-20.
The second set was close again with the Vikings trailing 14-13. They then went on a five point run to take the lead, but had those points taken away because they were serving out of rotations. That miscue was too much to overcome, instead of the game 小蓝视频 18-14 for the Vikings it was changed to 15-13 for Balgonie and the teams continued to battle until Balgonie took the second set 25-20.
Helania Johnson led the offence with five unofficial kills while Tori Heinemann had three and Kendra Humenny had two.
"The girls loved playing at home, and I think it helped them stay mentally strong," said Gabert, who was impressed with the hometown support and the way the girls played in the first game of the tournament despite the result.
Next, the Vikings took on the eventual champions from Weyburn. The Vikings played well and used a complete team effort with big blocks especially from Humenny, kills from Heinemann and good sets from Halley Zehner.
The Vikings trailed 13-11, but battled back and took control of the match going up 20-16. After two big blocks, Humenny smashed a bad Weyburn pass down to take the set 25-19.
Early in the second set, the Vikings generated several points by hitting into the Weyburn block and having the ball tip to the floor. Weyburn made adjustments in the second portion of the set and went on to win the second set 25-17.
Weyburn's consistency was the key in the third set as well as they played strong and earned the 25-18 win.
The Vikings third and final round robin game was against Regina Knoll and it was another exciting game that was close the entire way, but NBCHS lost 25-23 and 26-24 to finish fourth in their pool.
Saturday morning, the Vikings took on Regina Riffel in the first round of playoffs, but it was a frustrating one for the Vikings according to their coach.
"We beat ourselves," said Gabert.
The Vikings fell 25-8 in both sets and were knocked out of the tournament.
"The second set was frustrating, we were getting called on things we didn't even see at times," said Gabert.
In the gold medal match, Weyburn beat Prince Albert Carlton in three sets while Moose Jaw Peacock beat Balgonie in the bronze medal match in two sets.
Looking ahead to next season, Gabert said there will be higher expectations on her team to go further in provincials, but as for this weekend she was happy with the effort and said her team looked like they did at the beginning of the season when they were playing good team volleyball.
The Vikings' roster includes Grade 12s Helaina Johnson and Tianna Balfour, Grade 11s Quinn Eberle, Tori Heinemann, Kendra Hummeny and Halley Zehner and Grade 10s Sarah Roell, Amy Russell, Shania Magnusson and Zena Johnson.
