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Condors capture triple-A zone title |
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Written by JASON PETERS
Citizen staff
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Friday, 14 November 2008 |
Injuries to key players couldn’t keep the Duchess Park Condors from yet another zone championship.
The Condors defeated the Kelly Road Roadrunners in convincing fashion Friday afternoon at Duchess Park to win the triple-A girls volleyball zone title and secure a berth in the upcoming provincial tournament. Friday’s best-of-five match, played in front of a capacity crowd of Duchess students, ended 25-20, 25-13, 25-17 in favour of the Condors.
Duchess played the match without the services of starting setter Dani Broadfoot, who seriously injured a finger on her right hand in a metal-shop mishap last week. Condors power hitter Maylee Eisbrenner was on the floor for the showdown with Kelly Road but was still feeling the effects of a hyper-extended knee. And, Amy Hogan -- one of the most feared power hitters in the province -- wasn’t at 100 per cent because of a shoulder strain.
Still, the Condors flew a little too high for the Roadrunners.
Kelsey Piner, who usually swings away on the outside, stepped in as the Duchess Park setter and did an admirable job. And Kylie Kovacevic, who is normally a middle blocker, moved over to the power hitter spot and led the Condors in kill shots. For her work, Kovacevic was chosen as the most valuable player.
“I think we stepped up,” the Grade 12 Kovacevic said of her Condors. “We’ve never played in front of such a big crowd, and considering all the injuries we’ve had in the past couple weeks, we stepped up. Everybody is playing different positions than normal. Going to provincials, I think we’ll do really well. We’ve bonded as a team pretty well and kept strong so I think we’ll be able to bring the heat down south.”
The provincial championship tournament is Nov. 27-29 at Langley’s D.W. Poppy secondary school.
Richard Mintenko, the Duchess Park head coach, has now led the Condors to five consecutive zone championships.
“I’m very proud of the girls, keeping on the tradition and working toward another banner for the school,” Mintenko said.
Mintenko gave full marks to Piner, his Grade 11 backup setter.
“She has done a wonderful job, putting the ball up there to run the middles and move the ball around to make us an effective team,” Mintenko said. “I feel quite comfortable with her in this role.”
Kovacevic also impressed Mintenko during the match.
“I was very happy with her,” he said. “Kylie can play very well. She’s got probably the highest vertical (jump) on our team and if she can utilize that to her advantage, that’s what we need.”
Kim Basaraba, a Grade 11 power hitter and libero for the Condors, got the nod as Duchess Park’s match all-star. Brittany Dettenweitz earned that honour for the Roadrunners.
The Grade 12 Dettenweitz was happy with how she and her teammates performed.
“We all played strong,” she said. “We got our blocks up, we got our hits.
“(Duchess Park) fought hard. They’re a good team. They have great hits, great blocks. They’re smart players and they know what they’re doing.”
The Roadrunners did stay right even with the somewhat nervous Condors in the first set but were undone by a few too many serving errors.
“We started off great and then the girls just tensed up and seemed to be afraid to make mistakes,” said Kelly Road coach Lyle Ludwig. “I don’t think the crowd was a big factor. I think it was just nerves. Most of (the players) haven’t played on this stage before.”
n The College Heights Cougars are hosting the eight-team double-A zone championship this weekend. The gold-medal game is set for today at 7 p.m., following the bronze medal match at 5.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 14 November 2008 )
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