Continued success for Rose Valley, drought ended for Nipawin at girls volleyball provincials

After going 2-2 in the round robin, Rose Valley found themselves as the sixth seed in the playoffs. Smith said at that point something clicked.

“I think once we got to the quarter-finals against Leader,” Smith told northeastNOW. “We kind of took control and all my hitters started to fire on all four cylinders.”

He added through the round robin his team was a little bit scared to lose and there was a bit of pressure to win.

In the semifinals, Rose Valley met up with Medstead, a team they lost to in round robin play. However, this time it was different, Smith said he told his team they just had to put the earlier loss behind them.

“We knew that we were the best team there, we just had to prove it,” he said. “That’s why you play the game.”

After straight set wins in their two games to make it to the finals, it was a three set battle against LeRoy that saw Rose Valley come out on top.

Smith added all the success makes the younger players want to be a part of the program and work harder to get to that point. He said it’s a cycle, and they just try to keep it going.

“You know what, eventually it’s going to end sometime,” Smith said. “But we’ll take this ride anytime.”

Meanwhile, the 4A tournament this year was held in Fort Qu’Appelle and Balcarres and featured a handful of local teams. The top local finishers was L.P. Miller out of Nipawin earning a silver medal.

Head Coach Kevin Stene said they have been building the program for the last 10 years.

“It’s a weight lifted for the program as a whole for sure,” Stene said. “Because we’ve been fighting for it in the last 10 years, we’ve been to provincials several times and you always get to that quarter-final. Last year we made it to the bronze medal game and got fourth, so we’ve been taking a step each year and I forsee gold in the future.”

Nipawin went 3-1 in round robin play and finished first in their pool, earning them the second spot in the playoffs. The defeated Yorkton in the quarters before taking down Moose Jaw Peacock in the semifinals. Then Moose Jaw Vanier stood in their way for the gold medal match where Nipawin fell in three sets.

The L.P. Miller Bears earned silver at provincials, their first banner in girls volleyball since the mid-90s. (Twitter/@LPMillerBears)

Stene said he immediately knew there was something special in store this weekend.

“When we opened up against Melfort, and Melfort actually played amazingly well, they played really well, they’re a good solid team,” he said. “And we just didn’t let any ball hit the floor in the first match of the tournament for us.”

He added the girls treated it as a “business trip” en route to their silver medal. Stene said it is the first girls volleyball banner they have earned since the mid-1990’s.

“So proud as a coach,” Stene said. “Silver or gold, doesn’t matter, I was just as proud as I would’ve been with either colour.”

Looking ahead, Stene said they are hoping to get a few more club teams in the area, hopefully in the 14U, 15U, and 17U age groups.

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mat.barrett@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @matbarrett

by Mat Barrett

Continued success for Rose Valley, drought ended for Nipawin at girls volleyball provincials

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