By Martin Martinson

North Battleford senior girls aim to make history

Sep 19, 2018 | 9:57 AM

In the midst of a sizzling start to the new volleyball season, the North Battleford Comprehensive High School’s senior girls’ volleyball team is aiming to make history this weekend with their third-straight tournament win.

The senior girls’ team, coached this year by Jana Friedenstab and Mandy Frusson, has absolutely shot out of the gate to start the season, with gold medals in each of their first two weekend tournaments. Even more impressive than the number of wins to start, may be the domination with which the team has achieved those victories.

The senior girls have yet to lose a single set this season, proudly holding a 28-0 set streak through their first 14 games.

Of course, that doesn’t mean there weren’t some hard-fought games that went right down to the wire. There was one game in particular, against the Weyburn Eagles last weekend at the tournament, held just an hour-and-a-half down the road in Warman, which saw the team need to deliver under pressure. Coach Friedenstab credited the team’s ability to play to their strengths and trust their teammates with the game on the line as big factors contributing to their success as a team both overall and in the game against Weyburn specifically. The Vikings girls followed up a 31-29 win in the first set, with a 25-23 victory in the second to take the game in two straight sets.

“I think what we do really well is run the middle, and we have two really good middle attackers that can hit the ball well and [hit it] around the blocks,” Friedenstab said. “On our last play of the first set against Weyburn, we wanted to go to the middle, and Abbey got the last point for us [in the first set].”

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Abbey Neufeld, is one of five Grade 11 students on the team, on what is overall a very young senior girls squad this season. In fact, there is only one Grade 12 player on the team as Alex Gartner is the lone high school senior in the lineup.

It also just so happens that it was Gartner who ultimately led the team to victory in set number two against the Weyburn Eagles, serving an ace to end the match and seal the win.

Friedenstab said that while the team may be young on paper, many of the players have plenty of experience in high-pressure game action, thanks to having played on her Battlefords volleyball club team.

“We won U16 provincials last year in the club season, so they know how to battle [and] they know how to fight, they have the perseverance and experience,” she said.

The senior girls’ Vikings will now prepare to put their perfect record on the line again this weekend as they look ahead to another tournament, this one in Prince Albert at Carlton Comprehensive Public High School.  

Martin.Martinson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: MartyMartyPxP1