The Paul Kane Blues served up a repeat performance at the 16th annual Lions Western Canadian Challenge.
The high school women's volleyball team captured their second straight championship crown with a three set victory over the Spirit River Renegades in Saturday's final at the SkyDome.
"It's pretty sweet. Repeats are always nice," said Whitney Follette, a dominating Grade 11 middle and the tournament's MVP.
The second championship for the Blues in four tournaments and their third final in a row was too good to be true.
"It's such an honour to be in the final at such a big tournament," said Grade 11 setter Hailey Lutz. "We want to stay reigning champs."
The Blues opened and closed the 25-16, 20-25, 15-9 gold medal game in convincing fashion.
"We knew we could win it all. We're a good team," Follette said.
The pesky Renegades hung tough against the bigger Blues to force a deciding set.
"We came out really hard and strong and excited in the beginning because we're the defending champs and we wanted to win the game," Follette said. "After that we thought we would do it again but we fell apart in the second game. In the third game we kind of woke up and decided to win it."
In the first set the Blues never trailed as they scored points in bunches. Their longest point run was four and the team's second major scoring spree widened the gap to 19-9. The Renegades struggled putting hits together and were overmatched in the middle. Follette and captain Tyra Adamic controlled the air space with their booming hits and mega blocks. Maddi Aguis was strong serving and hitting in the early going. It was 23-14 when a hard smash by Follette was dug out and on the rebound she planted the ball away. The set ended on Lutz's unreturnable serve.
"We tried to take the lead in the beginning instead of slowing down like we tend to do sometimes," Follette said.
No lead was safe in the second set with the teams taking turns swapping points. It was 17-13 Renegades when head coach Stan Andronyk called a time out to settle his jittery team down. The Blues went on to score three in a row, with the first two on miscues by the Renegades, but the Renegades pulled off a surprising block at the net against Follette to make it 18-16. It started a run of three straight as the Renegades pulled away.
In the deciding set the Renegades jumped ahead 4-2 but gave up four in a row as Follette's staunch defence and Courtney Alcock's serving generated points. Leading 6-5 the Blues rattled off six points, backed by quality hits by Aguis, Adamic's diligent work in the middle and Follette's tricky serves. It was 12-7 when Adamic spiked the ball with gusto twice into the floor. The championship-clinching point was served into the net by the Renegades.
The Blues were even better in the too-close-to-call 19-25, 27-25, 15-12 semifinal against the St. Joseph Ceinahs of Grande Prairie, the eventual bronze medallists.
"There was definitely pressure in the semifinal. We didn't want to play for third, we wanted to get back into the final like last year and play for first," Lutz said. "In the end we just wanted it more. We knew we had it in us and we played great."
It was also a replay of last year's quarter-final, when the Ceinahs took the first set and the Blues had to rally to win the match.
"They were such a great team. They had awesome defence," Lutz said of the Ceinahs, the top pool C team that swept the Bellerose Bulldogs (second in pool B) 25-20, 25-16 in the quarter-finals. "I give them very big props for playing so strong."
The Ceinahs came out swinging in the first set and gradually distanced themselves from the Blues en route to a commanding 19-12 lead. Follette accounted for the last three points by the Blues by the rocking the ball.
"I think the crowd and the nerves got to us in that first set," Lutz said.
In the second set the Blues pounded the ball with consistency and authority, as Follette and Adamic led the charge. The Blues built up leads of 13-7, 21-15 and 23-19 and looked poised to seal the deal at 24-20, when the Ceinahs roared back with four in a row. The tying point was a block by Follette that didn't stick between the lines. On the next serve, Follette hammered home the go-ahead point. After the Ceinahs pulled even with a well-placed spike, they were whistled for a net violation that put the Blues back on top. On the next serve the Ceinahs double pumped the ball on defence to seal the deal.
The Blues ramped up the intensity in the deciding set as Follette put on a show with her superior hitting strength and crushing blocks. She accounted for four of the team's eight points before they switched sides. Adamic closed out the win with some serious smoke on the ball. On the match-winning point she unloaded a shot that the Ceinahs tried in vain to return but couldn't pull off the feat.
"The turning point was definitely our big hitters. In the second set we ran our middles more and they did what they had to do. They made some amazing hits for us throughout the rest of the match," said Lutz, 16, who kept feeding the Blues juicy balls to devour.
Tournament MVP
Follette, 16, was a tower of power throughout the tournament, especially in the thick of Saturday's playoff round.
"The semifinals and quarter-finals [25-27, 25-16, 15-4 against the Bawlf Wildcats] were probably some of my best games," said the six-foot-one product of the Sir George Simpson Voyageurs. "I felt I did well hitting. I got most of them in. I didn't make too many errors. I tried to angle my hits like my coach told me to do."
Follette was caught off guard when her name was announced as the MVP award winner.
"I was surprised," she said. "It means a lot and feels real good but it's a team game. It could've gone to anyone, really. Everyone did great."
In the 24-team women's draw the Blues swept all five pool D matches with ease and in the playoff round of 16 against the Vegreville Cougars, the same team they beat 25-19, 25-17 in last year's final, Paul Kane came out on top 25-19, 25-16.
For the complete results of the women's and men's brackets, visit www.mchs.gsacrd.ab.ca/wcc.
Provincial contenders
Paul Kane's 11-player roster features six returnees from last year's seventh-place finish at 4A provincials by the Blues, winners of four out of six tournaments.
"There is not a huge difference between last year's team and this team," Follette said. "Last year we came out hard for every game. We were undefeated [in the premier conference regular season] and maybe we were more consistent in our games. This year we kind of have our ups and downs but we know how good we can play and when we do play good we're unstoppable."
In the metro Edmonton premier standings the Blues (7-2) are challenging the Bev Facey Falcons (9-0), O'Leary Spartans (8-1) and Holy Trinity Trojans (6-2) for first place. Last year the Blues finished first at 11-0 (33 GW/5 GL) but in the semifinals they were swept in three sets by the 3A-level Trojans at Paul Kane. Last week the Blues beat the Trojans three straight at home on the eve of the tournament.
"Losing to them in the premier semis was definitely hard and we didn't want to let them take us again in our home gym. We wanted to show them that we're the better team," Lutz said.
Today at 4:45 p.m. the Blues play Bev Facey at Sherwood Park. A winning performance in the premier playoffs would give the Blues a big boost going into the Edmonton zone qualification round for provincials.
"To go back to provincials again would mean a lot," Follette said. "We're expecting to go far again and hopefully we'll do well in the rest of our league games."
