The quarter-finals at the provincial high school boys’ 4A volleyball championships held a similar fate for the two Red Deer teams.
Yet there was a distinct different feel when talking with the two coaches.
Lindsay Thurber Raiders head coach Terence McMullen was pleased with the effort of his troops following a 12-25, 15-25, 25-21, 20-25 loss to the Western Canada Redmen of Calgary.
On the other hand Hunting Hills Lightning boss Trevor Pikkert was disappointed with a 15-25, 19-25, 11-25 defeat at the hands of the Grande Prairie Tomahawks.
“Very disappointed,” he said. “Yet we had a very emotional match this morning and it was tough to come back and play two emotional matches in one day.”
The Lightning reached the quarter-finals with a 23-25, 25-21, 22-25, 25-22, 15-10 victory over the Foothills Falcons of Okotoks while the Raiders disposed of the Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs of Calgary 25-19, 25-22, 25-20.
The Raiders were fresh and ready for the Redmen, who came into the tournament ranked No. 2 in the province, behind Grande Prairie.
But the Redmen had a huge size advantage over the Raiders, which they took advantage of with their play at the net.
When the Raiders did come back it was because of outstanding defence led by libero Even Foerster.
“Our guys fought hard and played a lot of good defence, but they were so strong at the net and that turned the tide in those first two sets,” said McMullen. “They controlled the net and it took us two sets to figure out how to get around them.
“But overall they’re a very good team and they played well. The first two sets we made some errors but they didn’t give us a chance to get anything going either. We lost to a very good team and as a coach, if you’re going to lose, it’s better to get beaten by a team that plays well rather than giving it away. Today the better team won. We played well and they played very well.”
The Raiders, who came into the tournament ranked sixth, will face the Jasper Place Rebels of Edmonton at 10:30 a.m. with the winner heading into the fifth-place match at 2 p.m. against the winner of the Lightning-Bev Facey match, which is also at 10:30 a.m. The losers clash for seventh place, also at 2 p.m.
“We’re definitely looking at fifth,” said McMullen. “It’ll show a lot of character to rebound after losing a quarter-final match . . . I’m confident our guys will be ready.”
So will the Lightning, says Pikkert.
“We have a young team and we’re in the same position we were last year with a team of Grade 12 kids,” he said. “This year we don’t have one starter back from last year and we have two Grade 10s and a Grade 11 starting so we’re still in a good spot. We came into the tournament ranked seventh and no matter what happens we’ll be in the top eight.”
The Lightning weren’t at their best against the Tomahawks, but even if they were it would have been a tough match.
“They’ve lost only twice this season and we would have had to be at our absolute best while they would have had to have an off day for us to be with them,” said Pikkert. “But still I would have liked to has seen us play our best.
“I think the guys wanted to play well, but we weren’t able to push back and stand up for ourselves as we didn’t have a lot left in the tank.”
The Grande Prairie squad is a well-balanced team, led by outstanding six-foot-five power hitter Brook Sedore, who is to attend the University of Hawaii next year.
“They moved the ball around better than everyone else and Brook moved the ball around, hitting down the line, cross-court and off the blockers hands. I think we got a little frustrated.”
The semifinals go at noon with Grande Prairie facing Harry Ainlay and the Redmen clashing with Dr. E.P. Scarlett.
Ainlay downed Bev Facey 25-8, 25-15, 25-15 while Scarlett defeated Jasper Place 25-21, 25-23, 25-23.
On the B side, which sees the winner finishing ninth, the Chinook Coyotes of Lethbridge beat Westwood of Fort McMurray 25-15, 25-10, Sir Winston Churchill downed Lord Beaverbrook of Calgary 25-20, 20-25, 25-11, Foothills stopped Medicine Hat 25-21, 22-25, 15-4 and Sturgeon beat William Aberhart of Calgary 25-13, 22-25, 15-11.
The bronze medal match is set for 5 p.m. with the final at 7 p.m.
drode@www.reddeeradvocate.com