Zahara Askary excited to have home court advantage
By The Nelson Daily Sports
The Mount Sentinel Wildcats host the B.C. High School A Girl’s Volleyball Championships November 28-December 1 at the Selkirk College and L.V. Rogers gymnasiums.
The school has been the feature site of the provincial tournament eight times since 1991 and has won four titles since 1997, the last coming in 2007.
Mount Sentinel is currently ranked third in the province at the Single-A Girl’s Division.
However, the players are hopeful home court advantage will power the squad to the top of the heap when the prestigious Blue Banner is awarded to the winning team on the evening of December 1.
The Cats play host to the Kootenay Zone Finals Friday and Saturday at Selkirk College Gymnasium.
Before the first serve is taken, The Nelson Daily Sports Editor Bruce Fuhr is getting readers into the provincial spirit with a series of profiles on the 2012 Mount Sentinel Wildcats.
Today we feature Grade 12 Zahara Askary.
The final year of high school for Grade 12 students is all about Grad.
Except for members of the Mount Sentinel Wildcats varsity girl’s volleyball squad. The seniors on the Cats get an early start to celebrating by hosting the B.C. High School A Girl’s Volleyball Championships later this month.
And power hitter Zahara Askary has been counting down the sleeps for, well, almost since last year’s tournament.
“It’s going to be very exciting to have all our family and friends there to watch and support us,” the Justin Bieber fan said on the eve of the championships.
Askary, 5’5, 17-year-old, is one of Joe Moreira’s go-to seniors at the front-line position.
No. 1 in the program, and in the hearts of Wildcat fans, Askary has thrived on being part of the varsity squad for the past few years.
“I like the level of competition and being with the girls on the team,” explained Askary, who like many of her teammates eat, sleep and dream the sport of volleyball.
The Cats, third overall in the recent BC poll, won the Kootenay zone title last week at Selkirk.
After winning a pair of tournaments in Kimberley and Penticton Mount Sentinel looked poised to keep the run going.
However, the team, while winning, did not play to its potential.
Which can only lead to more pressure on the players to perform at the provincials.
“We haven’t done that well at provincials of late to I feel there’s pressure on us to bring back a Blue (championship) banner,” said Askary, expected to also play a big part on the varsity basketball team after the BC’s.
Does those recent results at provincials limit the potential of this team?
Not really says, Askary, who still has “bringing back a Blue Banner” as the number one goal.
What better way to cap off Grad year.
