Queens concentrating on defence

By Greg Price
Vauxhall Advance
gprice@tabertimes.com

A young Vauxhall Queens varsity girls volleyball team will continue to build towards its zone run.

If recent tournament results are any indication, the Queens look to have a solid foundation to build on.

“We’ve done pretty good, but we’ve been a little bit up and down. We are quite young this year, and with that comes some inconsistency. But the girls practice really well, so I’m quite optimistic on where we are going to get to by the end of the year,” said Scott Reiling, head coach of the Vauxhall Queens girls volleyball team.

The Queens kicked off its tournament run at F.P. Walshe, where after solid round-robin pool play, the Queens ran into a JV Chinook squad from Lethbridge, who would end up winning the tournament eventually, and lost a tight match.

“We had some early, beginning-of-the-year mistakes that you don’t want to see later on in the year, but we competed quite well,” said Reiling. “That’s the term I keep using with these girls, where we continue to go out there and challenge other teams.”

The Queens then traveled to Lethbridge College for the Kodiak Invitational, where the Queens had a very deep pool to compete against.

The Queens ended up on the bottom half of the draw with numerous splits, but then faced Fort Macleod who finished second at provincials last year, the next morning.

“They finished second and have most of their players back. We just didn’t come out and compete like we should have. You lose that first one in the morning, and then we won the rest of our games. But by that time, we were out of finishing top three or top five at that point,” said Reiling.
This past weekend, the Queens went up to Carstairs/Didsbury, which usually has a Who’s Who of 2A volleyball.

“Ten of the teams that were at provincials last year were there, including Spirit River. Teams drive from a long ways away,” said Reiling.

The Queens played its best volleyball so far, taking first in its pool which included beating Rundle College, the silver medalist of the tournament. In the playoffs, the Queens beat Vegreville which is this year’s 2A provincial host, before losing Spirit River.

“They are a little further advanced than we are right now,” said Reiling, adding the team then rebounded to beat Fort Macleod in two sets handily to earn the bronze. “That was a big tournament for us confidence wise.”
Given the team’s lack of size being a young team, Reiling admits the Queens will not be blowing teams away offensively. Nevertheless, the team will make up for it in other areas.

“Their ball control is really good and that’s an area we are really working on,” said Reiling. “It is getting that frustrating defence, and when we get that, we will be really, really tough. We serve really well, we pass well. We are going to play crazy defence where we are going to frustrate teams. The teams we are beating, that’s what the coaches are saying, ‘You guys just don’t let the ball hit the floor’. If a coach is saying that to me, then I know we are doing something right, that’s a good thing.”

That’s how we are going to win matches and be competitive, because this year, the south is really deep.”

The Queens are off to Lloydminster this upcoming weekend before hosting its home tournament Oct. 7 Thanksgiving weekend.

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