Home cooking can't power Wildcats past Immaculata at KVC
By The Nelson Daily Sports
By Bruce Fuhr,
The Nelson Daily
The weekend saw the Mount Sentinel Wildcats move up the competitive ladder, just not enough to capture the overall title at the Kootenay Volleyball Classic Saturday in South Slocan.
Immaculata defeated the host Cats 2-1 (25-16, 23-25, 15-8) to claim the overall High School Girl’s Volleyball tournament at the Mount Sentinel gymnasium.
“(This) was a good weekend for us,” said Sentinel coach Joe Moreira. “We had important contributions from a number of players who are beginning to play with more confidence.”
“In particular Laura Soukeroff and Chelsie Van Brynen (both Grade 12s) who had limited roles last year but are now feeling more comfortable on the floor and are recognizing that as Grade 12s this is their time to take charge,” Moreira added.
Immaculata finished on top of the table following round robin play and easily disposed of J. Lloyd Crowe Hawks of Trail 2-0 in one semi final.
Meanwhile Mount Sentinel took second after pool play. The Cats defeated Kootenay rival Selkirk Storm of Kimberley during the round robin, then knocked off the Bavarian City squad in the other semi final, this time 15-13 in the third game of the match.
“We had three important victories,” Moreira explained. “We beat Selkirk twice, both very close and in three sets, and also beat Fernie. Both teams are solid and athletic and we need to beat them both to advance to provincials.”
Fernie finished fifth in the tournament followed by A.L. Fortune of Enderby and Osoyoos.
Mount Sentinel has little time to relax as the team travels to Kelowna to compete in the UBC/O High School Volleyball tournament.
“We sill have lots of work ahead of us to compete with the really good teams in the province,” Moreira explained. “At the moment “slow and steady” is a good pace for us (because) without Grade 11’s on the team we must rely on our Grade 10’s to play beyond their level of maturity.”
RALLY POINT: Immaculata, currently second in the B.C. High School A Girl’s Volleyball rankings, may jump into the number one slot. Selkirk will most likely drop down the table from seventh to ninth while the Wildcats of Mount Sentinel could move into eighth spot.
sports@thenelsondaily.com
