The Holy Rosary Raiders are peaking at the right time as they march toward the Alberta high school 3A boys’ volleyball championship this week in Grande Prairie.
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The Raiders hosted — and won — the Northeast zone championship tournament last weekend in Lloydminster, as they prevailed in four of five matches and lost just one set in the playoffs.
Holy Rosary defeated J.A. Williams of Lac La Biche 2-0 (25-17 and 25-23) in the final, after an exciting 2-1 semifinal victory over the Holy Trinity Knights of Fort McMurray (25-20, 23-25 and 15-13).
As they secured their berth in the 12-team provincial championship, running Thursday through Saturday at Peace Wapiti Academy, the Raiders posted their second medal finish this season. They earlier mined silver at the West Island College tournament in Calgary.
“We made playoffs at every tournament this season, but our consistency under pressure just wasn’t quite stable enough at times,” said Holy Rosary coach Chelsea Steinley. “But it sure came together this weekend, and I am so happy to have peaked at the right time.
“We found our rhythm on Saturday during the playoffs and kept getting better through the day. Twyla Thomson, my assistant coach, and I were so proud of how the team came together. We have had a lot of illness and injury through this season, and we are a very young high school team overall.”
Along with four senior players, the Raiders’ roster includes two students from Grade 11 and six from Grade 10. That freshman complement is the greatest number of Grade 10 players Steinley has carried with her Holy Rosary teams.
“The most I’ve ever had in the previous three seasons was two,” she said.
“The team performed at the level we have known they were capable of, and it was like they finally trusted that and just played free together.
“I’m not speechless often, but I was overcome with pride and emotional after both our semi and final matches. It’s always amazing when the things your players work hard on all season click in big moments, and winning at home always makes it that much more special.”
The Holy Rosary gymnasium sure felt like home for the Raiders as they gained support from the greater volleyball community.
“We had an electric crowd cheering us on — the volleyball community in Lloydminster is phenomenal,” Steinley said. “So many people from the Rustlers’ organization were in attendance. Other community coaches came to cheer on athletes who have played club with them, and something I thought was incredibly cool was that we had many (Lloydminster Comprehensive High School) Barons’ volleyball players in attendance cheering on our teams, too. What a great showcase of sportsmanship.”
After winning their zone title, the Raiders headed to nearby St. Thomas School to support the Holy Rosary senior girls’ team. The girls went on to win their gold-medal match and advance to their 3A provincials, also this week in Grande Prairie.
Twelve teams from across Alberta have qualified for each of those 3A provincial championships. The zone tournaments featured nine teams each.
In staging both Northeast zone championships, the Raiders were thankful for the volunteer help from the extended school community.
“Holy Rosary is the best place to work at and coach at,” Steinley said. “Our staff and students always step up big time when we host anything, and the amount of volunteer hours they are willing to expend to help us pull these things together
is always remarkable.”
Read more: Junior Raiders mine Alberta gold
