Rise up and feel the power. The Foothills Falcons put a dismal opening match behind them to come back and defeat the Chestermere Lakers 3-1 in the South Central Zone 4A Senior girls volleyball final on Saturday.
Rise up and feel the power.
The Foothills Falcons put a dismal opening match behind them to come back and defeat the Chestermere Lakers 3-1 in the South Central Zone 4A Senior girls volleyball final on Saturday. The victory came a day after the Lakers hammered the Falcons in the opening match of the tournament.
“That was just a rough start to our weekend — the girls were slow, couldn't get anything going,” Falcons head coach Joanne Schoneck said of the 25-15, 25-14 loss. “I talked to the girls that how they needed to be like a phoenix, to rise up from the ashes from the bed they had laid for themselves and push forward to get the goals we had set for ourselves.”
The Falcons are either from Arizona or Springbank because the phoenix took hold in the final against the Lakers Saturday in Chestermere.
They were a whole new team in striving to their goal of winning zones.
“Chestermere had no idea how we actually played because how we played on Friday was nothing like we usually play,” Schoneck said. “Our whole team goal of going to provincials came down to that game.”
It didn't come easy.
The Falcons lost the opening set 19-25, before winning the final three sets 25-20, 26-24 and 25-14 to punch their ticket to the provincials this weekend in Medicine Hat.
“I can honestly say that match was an all-around team effort,” Schoneck said. “Alli (Taylor) and Emileigh Inglis were hitting really well and we were passing, really, really well. Teah (Simard) was setting really well.
“Chestermere is so defensively sound. They kept waiting for us to make mistakes and on Friday we gave them mistakes but not in the final.”
Taylor is delighted to get to provincials in her senior year after losing to the Holy Trinity Academy Knights at zones in 2016.
“This could have been our last weekend of volleyball,” Taylor said.
“On Friday, we were kind of negative, but on Saturday we were playing like a team and super-supportive.”
Which meant not panicking when they lost the opening set against Chestermere, she said.
The Falcons advanced to the finals by beating the Holy Trinity Academy Knights — the defending zone champions — in Saturday's semifinal.
The Falcons go into provincials ranked no. 10 out of 12 teams at this weekend provincials. Although top seeds are nice, to be a champion eventually you got to knock-off the top gals.
“We have played some of the top-ranked team in the province and we had some decent success,” Schoneck said. “We know what we are getting into and in order to beat the best, you have to beat the best.”
Foothills has beaten no. 7 ranked St. Francis Browns and have held their own against other schools.
“If you are going to provincials you expect to play tough teams,” Schoneck said. “Getting to provincials is our goal, what happens now is gravy. I want the girls to go out and play to the best of their ability and enjoy the experience.”
The Falcons open the tournament Thursday at 2 p.m. versus hosts Medicine Hat High.
To follow the action got to www.asaa.ca and follow the link.
