Quesnel Junior School’s volleyball team attended the Super Spike volleyball tournament in the Fraser Valley at the beginning of the month (March 2-3).
It was the biggest girls’ volleyball tournament of the year so far with 46 teams from all over the province competing in Langley, Abbotsford and Surrey.
The team’s technical director, Amarjit Singh Sull, says the girls had to deal with a few set backs at the start of the play.
There was a power outage at Langley Secondary School, so they were waiting for quite a while for hydro to reset the lines, but the organizers ultimately decided to switch venues to Brookwoods Secondary School for their first match.
Play started two and a half hours late.
At the conclusion of the match, they were hustled back to Langley Secondary School, where they played three games in a row.
Sull says despite the mix up, the team held its own at the tournament, where they finished 22nd out of 46 teams.
“From being noted as a strong defensive team with unlimited potential to a passionate, excited group; QJS girls continued to gain momentum and learn valuable skills through each game,” he says.
“We had some great team blocks, solo blocks and amazing defensive digs that had the crowd encouraging and cheering the Quesnel girls on.
“We are definitely a young team, but we have tremendous potential for growth.”
Coach Cory Hart addressed the players after their last match to put some perspective on how well they performed.
“The teams that we played against already have a couple hundred hours of touches with the volleyball and getting to play weekly sharpens their skills; whereas, in Quesnel, we practise few hours and have limited games, yet we were just as competitive as any small town.”
Sull says every young athlete who played gained valuable court time and learned skills for the future.
“Our goal is to continually keep growing and peak by provincials,” he says.
“By the time the big tournament comes around, we hope to be a quicker team technically and smoother with our transition.”
Playing teams from Fraser Valley, North Vancouver, Victoria and White Rock allowed the girls to see how different teams perform and play, which they hope to incorporate into their practices before provincials.
Next up, the Quesnel Junior School girls will take their skills to the Kelowna Super Series tournament, where they will look to improve individually and increase their ranking.
READ MORE: Quesnel Junior School wins gold and bronze medals at volleyball zones
sports@quesnelobserver.com
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