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Elecs rise to Black Knights' challenge

The championship game of the Estevan Comprehensive School (ECS) Elecs senior girls volleyball tournament once again pitted the home team against the Oxbow Prairie Horizons School Black Knights, but Saturday’s match may have been the most intense of t

The championship game of the Estevan Comprehensive School (ECS) Elecs senior girls volleyball tournament once again pitted the home team against the Oxbow Prairie Horizons School Black Knights, but Saturday’s match may have been the most intense of the two school’s celebrated rivalry.

For the second-straight year, the Elecs claimed first place at their home tournament beating the Black Knights 17-25, 27-25 and 16-14. The Black Knights, which won the Elecs’ home tourney in the two years previous to last fall, went into the final undefeated throughout the competition and led 24-23 with serve late in the second set before the Elecs stormed ahead.

“We struggled with serving in our first set, so the second set we really focused on it and I think it really helped us a lot,” said Elec Cheyenne Odgers. “A lot of it I think was our communication and our passing was really up. Whenever we’d get a point we’d get the momentum and cheer really loud and that brought us up.”

After ECS jumped ahead early in the first set, the Black Knights staged a comeback tying the game at 5-5 on a spike at the net by Jolene Sibley before jumping ahead 9-6 on the serve of Eryn Stewart. Oxbow brought the score up to 15-6 on their next serve before Elec Kourtney Kobitz was able to break the rally on a tip into the backcourt.

Both teams exchanged points throughout the rest of the set, but it was the Black Knights who dominated in the early goings of the second game thanks to a few misguided hits by the Elecs. Odgers got ECS back into the game on a spike from the side of the net before launching a strong serve to bring the score to within one at 9-8. The rest of the match was back and forth, filled with long volleys and highlighted by a competition level that seemed to increase with each successive point. The Elecs only pulled ahead at the end of the match on Sammy Wade’s serve, which the Black Knights could not return.

Each of the teams went point-for-point in the third set with the Elecs’ defensive tandem of Kobitz and Morgan Fichter standing out for their ability to block any shots at the net that were coming their way. With the score 14-14, Stewart fired a serve into the net before Elec Mataya Michel hit a tough shot into the backcourt which the Black Knights could not handle.

“I think it is definitely the best game we’ve played,” said Michel. “We played as a team the whole game.”

Nicole Sinclair, head coach of the Elecs, said they struggled with communication and passing from the beginning of the two-day tournament to the end, but in volleyball defence can win a game and that is exactly what happened. She said in the final the girls came together as a team and started talked with each other on the court, which coupled with the strong defence led by Fichter and Kobitz allowed them to gain the advantage.

“When (they’ve) got hard hitters, you need the blocks if your passes aren’t there,” said Sinclair. “Having those girls up at the net and getting those blocks really helped us.”

Sinclair said they still have some work to do on their passing, but the girls are meshing really well as a team. She said that should help them this weekend as they head into a tournament at Weyburn Comprehensive School.

“There are a couple stronger teams (there) that we haven’t played yet,” she said. “Coming off this win and the game that we played against Oxbow, being a stronger team, I think it’ll really help us to know what (to expect) next weekend and what we need to keep working on.”