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Bashaw Rebels just miss final in home tournament

Senior boys volleyball provincial hosts looking to growing and developing as season moves ahead
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Bashaw’s Brady Meger, left, and Connor Dancy go up with the double block that winds of forcing the Ryley attempt high in first set action Sept. 14. Photo by Jordie Dwyer

For the second straight week, the Bashaw Rebels senior boys volleyball squad ran into the net just before the final.

However, this time it was on their home court where the Rebels weren’t able to get past the semi-final stage, as Vegreville’s St. Mary’s Catholic School sent them down to defeat.

“It was a great tournament for development,” explained head coach Jess Viske.

“We played with four different line ups, trying to figure out which had the best dynamics on the court.”

Despite mixing the six positions on the floor, the Rebels ran the table in their round robin pool — finishing first and not losing a set in three matches.

The boys opened their tournament Sept. 14 with a 25-21, 26-24 victory over a tough rival from Forestburg, followed later that afternoon with another tough win over Ryley 28-26, 25-20. The Rebels ended the round robin early the next morning with a decisive 25-17, 25-17 win over Sedgewick.

“Our biggest battle currently is keeping a level mindset and not falling into the grooves of highs and lows within a set,” Viske stated.

With a large roster of players, the Rebels also have a junior varsity (JV) squad this season — some athletes also play with the senior team — and the JV club had to quickly play fill-in at the tournament after one club had to cancel at the last minute.

And as far as Viske was concerned, the young JV team did the best it could against some tough competition in its pool.

“We had our JV team step up and showed some real growth and understanding of the game at this level,” he added.

“As far as it went, I was happy with a lot of things that we displayed as a team and I’m excited to move into league play.”

The Rebels opened up the 1A Central league last night against Hay Lakes (result unavailable at press time) and will face off versus Bawlf on Sept. 25.

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Jason Resler gives it his all on this smashing power shot attempt that goes down the line, while Landon Schulte awaits the possible save if it gets blocked as Bashaw takes on Ryley in the second set of their match Sept. 14.
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Bashaw Rebels Grant Golinowski gets this tip past the block of the Ryley player as the two Rebel teams face off in the second set of their match Sept. 14.
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Head coach Jess Vikse, middle, takes an opportunity during a time out against Ryley to go over some strategy and positioning, which help the team pull out the win in the first set Sept. 14.
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Kurtis Poffenroth takes a big swing and pounds the ball into the Ryley defence in first set action Sept. 14 as Bashaw went onto win the match.
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Blg Block: Bashaw Rebels senior boys Jason Resler goes up and perfectly executes this stuff block in the first set of their match Sept. 14 against Ryley as the Rebels held their home tournament. Check out Page 3 for the full story and more photos. Photo by Jordie Dwyer