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Lancers steamroll at Falcons Classic

There was Scarlett red flowing through the Okotoks volleyball community on Halloween. The Dr. E.P.
Foothills Falcon Liam Hall spikes over a pair of Centennial Coyotes on Oct. 30 in the opening game of the Falcon Classic at the Comp.
Foothills Falcon Liam Hall spikes over a pair of Centennial Coyotes on Oct. 30 in the opening game of the Falcon Classic at the Comp.

There was Scarlett red flowing through the Okotoks volleyball community on Halloween.

The Dr. E.P. Scarlett Lancers swept the Foothills Classic volleyball tournament with the girls beating the Western Canada Redhawks in the final while the boys downed the Cochrane Cobras to complete the sweep.

The Lancers beat the Foothills Falcons 25-12, 27-25 in the semifinal match which featured two tall friends squaring off against one another at Westmount School.

Foothills Falcon power Liam Hall and Scarlett’s Jesse Elser were sharing laughs in between attempting to block one another’s huge spikes. They were teammates on the Calgary Canucks-Dinos, which won the National Club volleyball championship at the Saddledome last spring.

“I love playing against Liam — making funny faces and snarky comments across the net,” Elser said with a laugh. “We’re good buddies, and it’s a lot of fun.”

The pair was labeled The Twin Towers, when competing in a volleyball tournament in Houston once — ala Ralph Sampson and Hakeem Olajuwon of Houston Rockets fame.

“He’s a good player and he’s a nice guy,” Hall said. “It was fun. He tells me stuff I can’t say (for the paper).”

Hall added the Falcons benefit from playing tough teams like Scarlett in tournament play. However, he would like to get the upper hand on his old friends (Scarlett’s Jackson Howe was also a member of the Canucks).

“We beat them once last year,” he said.

Foothills Falcon coach Corey Cowper said his team was a bit star-struck when they walked on the court against Scarlett, the second-ranked 4A volleyball team in the province.

“In the volleyball world, they have a lot of ‘big’ players,” Cowper said. “The second set we calmed down and we passed better. Our middles (Mason Sheen and Ben Rahn) were really effective against them.”

However, the Falcons were able to turn it on in the second set.

They appeared to have the match won at 25-23, but a Falcon spike was ruled redirected by a Foothills player after it had gone on the Lancers’ side of the net.

The Lancers defused the Falcon comeback when Elser spiked a ball that would have registered on the Richter scale to give Scarlett the 27-25 victory.

The Falcons went 3-3 in the tournament, beating Bishop O’Byrne, Rundle and Western Canada. They lost to Centennial, Cochrane and Scarlett.

“I’m happy with the way the guys responded,” Cowper said. “They are getting to a point where they know they can compete and they are starting to show it.

“They are playing with more confidence…We need to play more games like against Scarlett.”

The Falcons are currently ranked no. 9 in the 4A rankings.

The Strathcona-Tweedsmuir Spartans were knocked out by the Cochrane Cobras in the quarter-finals.

On the girls side, the Lancers advanced to the finals by knocking off the Holy Trinity Academy Knights in two sets in the semifinal.

“The last set against Scarlett we took them to extra points, 28-26,” Knights coach Paul Morris said. “They have one girl on the junior national team and we were able to block her several times.”

The Knights downed the Foothills Falcons 2-1 in the round-robin. The Falcons were eliminated in the quarter-finals by Western Canada.

The Redhawks were a thorn in local schools’ collective sides on Halloween. They knocked off the STS Spartans in the girls semifinal.

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