Consistency was the difference as the Notre Dame Cougars beat the Hunting Hills Lightning Wednesday night.
The teams met at Hunting Hills High School where the Cougars won three straight sets (25-20, 25-14, 25-20) en rout to victory.
Notre Dame played consistently most of the night, said assistant coach Kirsten Sorensen.
“There were a couple lulls we had in the first and third sets, but for the most part we stayed pretty steady which was nice to see,” Sorensen said.
The Cougars recently attended a tournament in Lethbridge, where the team played very well, Sorensen added.
“We were playing with some confidence in that tournament, so it’s nice to see us carrying that into tonight,” she said.
Lightning coach Adam Sillery said his team struggled to play consistently.
“We played well at times, but we had to many lulls at too many points and that put us in a hole we couldn’t dig our way out of,” he said.
The team has to be able to rally together and fight adversity, he added.
“We need to get out of tough situations and when things aren’t going our way. And we need to get out of those situations earlier,” said Sillery.
Hunting Hills player Sydney Rix agreed with her coach, saying consistency needs to be addressed.
“There were definite high points tonight, but we need to compete more when we’re down,” she said.
The team needs to work on its communication on the court and covering tips, Rix added.
“Those were definite problems tonight and so was getting a bigger block on the outside. I think if we fix that, we’ll be all right,” she said.
Hunting Hills will play Lindsay Thurber and Notre Dame will battle Lacombe next Saturday.
The league playoffs begin on Nov. 14.
sean.mcintosh@reddeeradvocate.com
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