Timing is everything.
Holy Trinity Academy’s senior girls couldn’t have picked a better time to serve up its best volleyball of the season as the surging Knights took the 4A South Central Zone championship in a four-set thriller over the host Foothills Falcons on Saturday at the Comp.
“We’ve grown a lot and hit the peak of our season now and during zones,” said Knights coach Crystal Anderson. “They were cohesive, they played the best they ever played in this tournament.
“We were undefeated, no one took a set off us until the Comp did in the championship game. It was a bit of a nailbiter, but I knew we were the stronger team.”
The top seed out of round-robin, the Knights dispatched George McDougall in the semifinal in straight sets and did not actually lose a set until the gold medal match.
Foothills, meanwhile, got the better of the Chestermere Lakers in the other semi.
As the Knights hit their peak so did their cross-town rivals.
Foothills put up easily its best performance of the season against the Knights and gave them all they could handle in front of a boisterous atmosphere provided by supporters of both schools.
“That’s what the whole nature of the season was,” said Falcons head coach Corey Cowper. “We had to be at our best to do it and we just fell a little bit short.
“We adjusted our block defence to their offence. We made one small change – I’m not going to say what it is – but it was really effective for us.”
The first set proved to be equal parts paramount and gruelling. Both clubs counterpunched in the marathon opener with the Knights eking out a 30-28 triumph after hard-hitting Annelise Hielema’s tip at the net was followed by a block by setter Dora Komlodi on the next point.
“That was so important,” Hielema said. “Coach (Anderson) called a timeout and said we need this set to set the tone for the rest of the game. We all just wanted it so bad.”
Buoyed by a strong first set, the Falcons wrestled back momentum in the second. Five straight points on serves by co-captain Chayle Clark got Foothills in the driver’s seat. Jenna Romaniuk wrapped up the second (25-20) when her hit was out of the reach of the Knights blockers.
That’s when the leadership of Knights captains Komlodi and Hielema began to take over.
“(Dora’s) ability to consistently read the ball and react coupled with her leadership was a really big part of our win,” Anderson said. “Her leadership along with Annie Hielema as well that was huge. When the girls are down on the scoreboard or mentally down, they’re able to overcome and persist.”
Despite an early advantage for the Falcons, Komlodi served up four points on serve to get the squad back in front with a big assist to its wide array of attackers. Katherine Brown then put a bow on the third with a massive outside hit in the 25-19 triumph.
“We just said that (second) set never happened. It’s zero-zero,” Hielema said. “We had to fight hard for every point because we knew they weren’t going to let off. We made a point to side out after every point to make sure they didn’t get more than two points in a row.
“That really helped the game go smoothly.”
Smooth would be the operative word in the fourth and final set. The Knights rode a 12-4 run early in the fourth to take the clincher by a 25-12 margin.
“It was a good fight. I don’t know, I think if we would have taken that first one it would have been a different outcome,” Cowper said. “We really took the momentum and fought and took the second set and the third set was a good fight right up until the end.”
Losing just five players to graduation going into next season, there is plenty of optimism for the maroon-clad squad heading into the next few years.
For the Knights, the future is now for the veteran-laden team who’ve booked their ticket to provincials in their debut season as a 4A school.
“It’s so exciting,” Hielema added.
“This is our first year in 4A and it’s huge that we were able to make it to provincials and to compete at that level.”
The Alberta High School 4A Volleyball Championships run Nov. 23-26 at Red Deer’s Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive School. It will be a double dose of Knights on the courts as HTA’s senior boys also took home the zone championship.
For more information on the provincial competition go to asaa.ca/championships
