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Lindsay Thurber Raiders boys off to provincials after zone win

The Lindsay Thurber Raiders senior boys volleyball team saved their best for last in the Central Alberta Schools Athletic Association zone final.
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The Lindsay Thurber Raiders senior boys earned a provincial berth with a win over the Notre Dame Cougars on Saturday. The Raiders will travel to Medicine Hat this week and start their 4A provincial journey on Thursday afternoon. (Facebook Photo)

The Lindsay Thurber Raiders senior boys volleyball team saved their best for last in the Central Alberta Schools Athletic Association zone final.

With a 4A provincial berth on the line in the third match of the best-of-three series with the Notre Dame Cougars, the Raiders swept three sets (25-22, 25-22, 25-23) en route to the zone title.

“We played a lot more our style of volleyball. We were able to run our middles effectively. We had a lot of momentum, we have some good middles that can hit the ball well and some of those quick fast kills really give us momentum,” Raiders head coach Terence McMullen said.

“We did a good job of neutralizing their middles a lot better. They had success running them against us. We did a better job of blocking their strengths. We forced them into a few errors early and that definitely helped.”

McMullen added the performance steadily built for his side from an opening match loss Thursday, to finally closing out the series Saturday night.

“We were in a little bit more control of the entire match. Thursday, they definitely were in control. I thought Friday there were times we were in control,” McMullen said.

“We felt a lot more comfortable Saturday. In dealing with the pressure, we got our must win, nervous, tight game out of the way Friday. Then we came in Saturday, we knew we had to play to win and that experience of having our back against the wall helped.”

The win also secured a fifth seed at provincials for the Raiders, and a pool with Catholic Central and E.P. Scarlett, two schools they’ve already seen this year.

“Having taken stats on the games, having the games on tape so I can go back and re-watch them, that helps. That helps with the comfort level of knowing what to expect,” McMullen said.

E.P Scarlett topped the Raiders in Red Deer last year in the 4A provincial final.

Lindsay Thurber open provincials in Medicine Hat against the Foothills Falcons on Thursday afternoon. The senior girls, ranked second heading in, start the tournament against Jasper Place.



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Byron Hackett

About the Author: Byron Hackett

Byron has been the sports reporter at the advocate since December of 2016. He likes to spend his time in cold hockey arenas accompanied by luke warm, watered down coffee.
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