By Martin Martinson

Bump, set, spike

Riverside Rebels kick off season in impressive fashion

Feb 14, 2019 | 10:09 AM

With the club volleyball season just starting up, the Battlefords’ U16 Club Volleyball team, the Riverside Rebels, stormed out of the gate.

Following a bronze medal finish at their first tournament of the year, the team took gold at their local tournament Feb. 3 at John Paul II Collegiate. Riverside then carried that momentum into the first SaskCup of the schedule.

Taking place in Saskatoon Feb. 9 and 10, the Rebels would finish second on the tournament, earning silver in the massive 40-team provincial tournament.

Eventually falling 25-22 and 25-19 in straight sets to the defending provincial champion, Saskatoon Lightning in the gold medal game, the Rebels held the lead within the first set 18-14 at one point, before the Lightning stormed back.

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Rebels’ head coach, Vic Stynsky, who initially started the Battlefords’ club volleyball squad five years ago, said earning the silver so early in the season at a major provincial tournament bodes well for the club moving forward.

“It definitely tells us we can play with the best teams in the province and we know what we have to work on,” he said. “The girls were very happy and impressed with how they did on the weekend, but I know they did come out of there knowing they could’ve won if we maybe work on a couple aspects of our game.”

Of the eight girls on the U16 team, six of them are returning players. Even more impressive may be that four of them have been with the program since it first began five years ago. Stynsky said the pre-established comradery along with ever-growing rapport built throughout the early going this year played a role in the squad’s early-season success.

“I think [the hot start] has definitely had a lot to do with how we have gelled through the season,” the coach said. “We’re not a team that verbally communicates loud, but I think from playing with each other [for as long as they have] they kind of know each other and their playing techniques. I think they know what each other are thinking before the play starts, so it really helps to have them familiar with each other’s strengths and weaknesses and abilities.”

Stynsky said the Rebels play a consistent but aggressive style of game, looking to make an offensive play on the ball each opportunity presented.

“When you get to a level that’s at the top of the province you can’t be successful free-balling the ball over,” he said. “You have to make an aggressive play every time over to the other team, because the [opposition] on the other side of the net is an excellent team also.”

Next up on the schedule, the Rebels will travel to Prince Albert for a 12-team tournament Feb. 24, before heading to Meadow Lake for another on March 3. The next SaskCup provincial showdown will take place in mid-March.

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Martin.Martinson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: MartyMartyPxP1