JV Auroras begin season with tournament in Medicine Hat

TIMES FILE PHOTO

By Cole Parkinson
Taber Times
cparkinson@tabertimes.com

With school well underway, sports have started for schools across the Taber area.

The St. Mary’s JV Auroras went east this past weekend to Medicine Hat to play in their first tournament of the year.

The team is composed of Grade 9-11 students and the coaching staff was pleased with the results of the first tournament held at Crescent Heights High School.

“The tournament had six teams and in round-robin play, you played four games. Our round-robin play was Raymond 23-25, 21-25, McCoy 25-17, 22-25, Brooks Composite 21-25, 20-25, and Eagle Butte 23-25 and 25-20. We were pretty happy with our round-robin play. We were able to cut down our mistakes and had some really tough serving from Makayla Schwartz, Ainsley Duell and McKenzie Siemens, and some great passing from Sam Pacleb,” explained coach Carolyn Siemens. “We ended up fifth in the round-robin and played the fourth place McCoy team.”

Heading into the quarter-final round, the Auroras prepared for McCoy and ended up having a better game, which resulted in a win and St. Mary’s moving to the semi-finals.

“In the quarter-finals, we had a much better game against them, we won two straight 25-15 and 25-12. Our girls played well as a team, had great passing and we cut down on the mistakes that we had in the morning,” added Siemens.

The semi-final round had the Auroras face off against Raymond, who had their number earlier in the round-robin.

“We met Raymond again in the semi-final game, as they were seeded in first place. We didn’t have as good a game against them as we had in the morning. They handled us pretty easy with good digging and consistent hitting. It was our sixth game of the day and we could see fatigue setting in. We ended up 19-25 and 15-25,” added Siemens.

Despite the loss in the semi-final, the coaching staff was happy with how the team handled the first game action of the season.

“Overall, it was a great start to the season. We were able to see how players would play in different positions and situations,” explained Siemens. “We are a young team and came out strong against the competition. We play this Thursday at 5 p.m. at St. Mary’s against Taber Christian High School, and then will head to Stirling for a tournament on the weekend.”