Winning a home tournament was a great setup for provincials for the Ponoka Warriors U16 volleyball club.
Ten teams converged on Ponoka for the tournament April 22 with the Warriors gunning for a strong finish. Coach Darren Josephison said there was a mixture of U15 and U16 teams. “We have some big kids and we’re hitting.”
“In U16 we’ve beaten Division 1 teams and we’ve been in Division 2,” he added.
Coming up to provincials, which is set for this weekend, the team found its stride in Division 3 for provincials being ranked first in the division. Josephison added there is a lot of parity within the U16 teams in Alberta so one win or loss can change the balance fairly quickly. There’s almost 70 teams in the U16 league.
“We’ve only lost a couple games at the big premiers,” said Josephison.
Despite those challenges, the team has earned medals at three tournaments.
Josephison is excited for the upcoming provincials as all but one player competed together last year. For Division 3 the Warriors want to medal but there’s four or five other teams that have the skills to win. Josephison expects the Warriors will have to work hard to earn their medal.
The team, which is comprised of players from around central Alberta, has also signed up to take part in nationals in the next few weeks. Josephison expects about 90 teams will take part in the big tournament.
The Warriors won the final match 2-0 over Leduc and was undefeated at the tournament.