North Battleford athletes talk winning volleyball nationals with the Lakeland Rustlers

All three athletes from North Battleford took home team awards. Lavallee won the unsung hero award, with a big reason being her effort at practice.

“I worked really hard during the season to make sure that the A side can compete to their highest abilities when they’re playing games. When I’m setting, I pretend to be the other setters from the other teams so that they’re able to read them better when it comes to the actual game,” she said. “It’s nice to be recognized, but I knew throughout the whole season that winning nationals was recognition enough.”

Adamcryck won was recognized for having the top academic marks on her team, finding a proper balance between school and the team.

“It’s tough balancing school and volleyball. We practice and work out five times a week. We play Friday and Saturday. So balancing academics is definitely a challenge. I think being a part of a team, we learn to manage our time properly. Work just as hard off the court as you do on the court,” said Adamcryck, who mentioned the award came as a surprise since the whole team is strong academically.

Bugg took home the most improved award on the team.

Bugg joined the team a year later than Lavallee and Adamcryck, and having somebody familiar certainly helped all three of them through their collegiate careers as Lavallee mentioned.

“Especially at the beginning when you’re just getting to know people and everyone already knows each other. Our team is very welcoming, but it was very nice to have another person that I knew so that we could just go through the experience together,” she said.

The team traveled to Manitoba where they won nationals in March. “Our team always loves traveling together. We were lucky enough to be able to fly,” said Adamcryck. “It was a really good way to end our season being at nationals…(it) was a really fun time for us, then bringing it home and winning it was just an amazing feeling.”

As the tournament went, family and friends of the athletes made their way to the tournament as well, giving them a boost.

“We had some siblings there, aunties. A lot of our men’s volleyball team came down too for the final game. That really helped make it feel more like home, and we were able to play more comfortably.”

The title was the Rustlers third straight women’s volleyball national championship.

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Ryan.Lambert@pattisonmedia.com

by Ryan Lambert

North Battleford athletes talk winning volleyball nationals with the Lakeland Rustlers

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