Best to save the best for last. The Foothills Falcons beat their cross-town rivals, Holt Trinity Academy Knights, for the first-time this season on Thursday and it happened to be for the Senior girls league championship.
Best to save the best for last.
The Foothills Falcons beat their cross-town rivals, Holt Trinity Academy Knights, for the first-time this season on Thursday and it happened to be for the Senior girls league championship.
“I told the girls “every single time we play HTA it's a learning experience,'” said Falcons coach Carolyn Lenstra. “We lost to them in league and at our tournament, but our girls were soaking everything in — “Where were they vulnerable on defence? Where were they going on their offensive plays… ”
Turns out the Falcons aced their final exam.
Foothills swept the Knights 3-0 in the Foothills Athletic Council final 25-20, 25-23, 25-22 at the Crescent Point Field House to defend their title.
Lenstra said the Falcons were able to serve tough and force the Knights' attack to the outside, where the strength of Foothills' blocking is.
“We had a few misses on serves, but it was after a run of four or five, so I can't complain about that,” Lenstra said. “The girls were really focused all week for this.”
Meanwhile, HTA turned in a very un-Knight-like flat showing for the final.
The Knights had gone into the final undefeated in council play.
“Uninspired for sure,” said Knights coach Paul Morris of his team's play. “But don't take anything away from how Foothills played.
“They served some good stuff at us, they threw up some blocks, they threw some hits at us. Whenever we got some momentum, Foothills didn't run away and hide. They came right at us.”
He said the Falcons were just a bit better in the final.
“All the scores were in the 20s, which reflects a close match,” Morris said. “I think they just kept things going a little bit better.”
He said the Falcons were more diverse than they had been in the previous matches with the Knights.
“They moved the ball around, it wasn't just Ally (Bymak) tonight,” he said. “Their setter (Bethany Hardy) was also very good.”
That's not to say Bymak was missing in action. She was the dominant force on the Falcons.
“Ally played awesome,” Lenstra said. “She had a mission. She had a plan of where she was going to score points and we went to her. She was hot. There's not much you can do to stop her when she is on.”
As well as pummeling the ball, the Grade 12 student played solid defence with her blocks and her digs.
Also digging like a Bobcat from Okotoks Rentals was Falcon libero Mikaela Reidlinger.
The Falcons won the first set 25-20 when on the final point both Reidlinger and Jessa Meyer dugout consecutive spikes from hard-hitting Knight Leah Lazic before taking the set when a Knights' block went into the net.
“They just hit at us and I was able to pass it up,” Reidlinger said of her big save. “I just thought: “I have to get this ball up.'”
Lazic, who won an FAC title with the Knights in her Grade 10 year in 2013, said the team will learn from this loss as they advance to zones.
“We just didn't come together as a team tonight,” Lazic said. “We would make a mistake and get down on ourselves… it's hard to get out of that mentality sometimes. For zones we have to show up as a team.”
The Knights will try to qualify for 3A provincials by going to the South Central zones Nov. 20-21 in Strathmore. As automatic qualifiers as the only 4A team in the zone, the Falcons prepare for the provincial championship, Nov. 26-28 in Edmonton.
The Holy Trinity Academy Knights won the Junior Varsity championship by sweeping the Strathcona-Tweedsmuir Spartans in the final Thursday at the field house.
For more information go to fac.teampages.com
