Down 20-4, the Notre Dame Cougars girls volleyball team were on the comeback trail in zone semifinals.
They rallied to a 14-24 deficit against the Hunting Hills Lightning when Kamryn Henderson stepped up to serve, the Lightning one point away from taking the game.
Henderson held serve for 12 straight times and pulled even. The Cougars went on to win the game 27-25 and the set.
“It was the highlight of my volleyball career,” she said. “The crowd was amazing that night, it was a huge team effort. It’s probably something I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”
On Wednesday night, that memorable comeback was one of many highlighted as the reason she was named Notre Dame female athlete of the year.
The Grade 11 student was joined by Griffin Moline, who won the Notre Dame male athlete of the year during the school’s athletics banquet.
Henderson played on the volleyball, basketball, handball and cross-country running teams. She pointed to volleyball and basketball as her favourites of all the sports she participates in.
“I hope to continue, build and see what the future has to hold,” said Henderson. “I’m hoping for a better basketball season than we had this year. We’ll continue to work on that and hopefully it’s a great season next year.”
In Moline’s last year in high school, he was a key component of a basketball team that won zones and competed in the provincial tournament hosted in Red Deer.
“I’m so proud and thankful of everybody who has helped me get here,” he said. “I loved every second of high school sports. I enjoyed every teammate I had. It was great years for all three of them.”
He noted the zone championship for basketball as a highlight, but he was also a part of the Cougars volleyball that won zones.
Moline and his teammate Cody White were both nominated for the athlete of the year and a night prior, they watched soccer together and joked about who would win male athlete of the year.
On top of volleyball and basketball, Moline competed in tennis and handball. He is off to Medicine Hat College next year to play volleyball on a scholarship.
Other female athlete of the year nominees included: Leah Brunner and Bryndelle MacDougall.
Other male athlete of the year nominees included: White and Taylor Vida.
The Grade 10 Most Outstanding Athletes were Jenna Hollman and Ty Moline.
Other Notre Dame 2016 athletic award winners;
Cross country — Most Promising Player (MPP): Connor Poole. Coaches Award (CA): Carson Schiller.
Golf — Most Outstanding Performance (MOP): Tanner Smith (male) and Clare McMahon (female).
Football — Most Improved Player (MIP): Ethan West. Curtis Acheson Award: Troy Stan. Rookie of the Year (ROY): Jordan Muirhead. Paul Martin Memorial Award: Beko Wande. Ross McClenaghan Award: Payton LaGrange. MVP: Parker Dahl.
Junior girls volleyball — MVP: Samantha Gagner. CA: Sarah Scrase.
Junior boys volleyball — MVP: Matt Heron. CA: Connor Poole
Senior girls volleyball — MVP: Kirstin Pinkney. MIP: Natalie Frenette. CA: Ally Sebastian.
Senior boys volleyball — MVP: Parker Biletsky. MIP: Griffin Moline. CA: Alex Elkin.
Curling — CA: Brent Taylor-Gross and Kalynna Watson.
Junior girls basketball — MVP: Beth Bergeron. CA: Kae Soriano.
Junior boys basketball — MVP: Eric Racelis. CA: Chad Lantz.
Senior girls basketball — MVP: Gemma Davis. MIP: Lexi Kowalchuk. CA: Kamryn Henderson.
Senior boys basketball — MVP: Cody White. MIP: Josh Ballantyne. CA: Griffin Moline.
Girls wrestling — MOP: Drew Persson.
Badminton — MVP: Jenna Hollman, Shae Bilodeau and Ben LaBlanc. MIP: Gracyn Holman, Megan Benoit, Brian Pabilona and Han Nguyen. CA: Andy Kim and Trang Nguyen.
Athletic leadership — Kate Jensen (female) and Cody White (male).
Junior girls handball — Jenna Hollman (MPP)
Junior boys handball — Brett Porter (MPP)
Senior girls handball — MVP: Sarah Koopmans. CA: Mackenzie Huddleston.
Senior boys handball — MVP: Jordan Muirhead. CA: Lynx Ledene.
Girls soccer — MVP: Natalie Frenette. CA: Lexi Davis.
Boys soccer — MVP Andrew Aspillaga. CA: Nathan Bergeson.
Girls rugby — MVP: Erika Lefley. MIP: Sarah Geisbrecht. CA: Kate Jensen.
Boys rugby — MVP: Taylor Vida. MIP Beau Meier. CA: Steven and Sheldon MacLeod.
Tennis — MVP: Ty and Griffin Moline. CA: Kate Pasula and Alex Moore.
Track and field — MOP: Leah Brunner (female) and Connor Sinnamon (male). CA: Matt MacQuarrie (male) and Lina Koller (female).