The Chestermere Lakers senior boys’ volleyball team proved it deserved the No. 1 seed going into the Rocky View Sports Association’s divisional volleyball tournament. Chestermere defeated the Cochrane Cobras in five sets to win the gold medal, the team’s first since 1960, at the Volleydome in Calgary, Nov. 4-5.
“(In the final), both teams played really well and it came down to who made the most errors,” said Lakers’ head coach Theresa Wood.
Both the Lakers and the Cobras will compete in the South Central Zone Championships, which will be hosted by Holy Trinity Academy in Okotoks, Nov. 18-19.
Cochrane’s half of the eight-team draw features Strathmore, Bert Church and Brooks. Chestermere will face off against Springbank, Holy Trinity and Highwood in the early rounds. Cobras’ head coach Doug Jensen is expecting a rematch of the divisional final.
“We’re not done,” he said. “We’ll see Chestermere again. Our ultimate goal is to meet them in the final. We just have to stay level. We’re going to focus on improving our defence because that’s been our weakness all season. We have a pretty good chance and we expect to be in the final.”
While winning Chestermere’s first senior boys’ division championship in 51 years is a big accomplishment, Wood said that the team isn’t looking to rest on their laurels and take the zone tournament lightly.
“Overall, it was a great win for us and it’s another stepping stone for zones,” she said. “We still need to work hard and really remember what we’re doing out there and what our goals are. We don’t want to sit back and just let it happen.”
To get to the final, Chestermere defeated Springbank in the first semifinal despite losing the first set. Cochrane upset George Mac in the second semifinal 3-1 to advance to the final.
“To be perfectly honest, I don’t consider it a huge upset,” said Jensen.
“We’re fairly equal teams. What did surprise me was that it didn’t go five sets and that it wasn’t a closer match. We knew we could beat them, but we knew it was going to be a challenge. We played our best match. Our hard work paid off.”
In the junior boys’ division, the George McDougall Mustangs defeated the Bert Church Chargers, to win gold. Their junior girls’ team brought home silver after losing to Springbank.
Bow Valley took first place on the senior girls’ side over Chestermere.
