The U14 Cochrane Jaguars Volleyball Club team has been killing the competition this year en route to the Volleyball Alberta Provincials being held in Calgary April 16 and 17.
The tournament, which brings together 64 teams from all across the province, will be played at venues all around the city such as SAIT, Volleydome, and Rally Pointe, among others.
Jaguars coach Mike Vogel believes that while his team isn’t one of the favourites going into the event, they will be looking to make a mark nonetheless.
“We’ve had a great year so far,” Vogel said. “I’m hoping for us to end up in the top 10 again.
“In the last premier draw we finished 10th and in the one before that we came in fourth, so hopefully we can do better, but for a top 10 place finish out of all the teams in Alberta for a club the size of ours would be a great achievement.”
Over the last two weekends, the Jaguars have played in two club tournaments – the Strathmore Chaos Invitational, April 2 and 3, and the Okotoks Peak Spring Ahead tournament, April 9 and 1. The team finished with a gold medal in Strathmore and a bronze in Okotoks.
“We’ve done seven tournaments this year, which is a couple more than usual,” Vogel said. “However, we had a buy in from all the parents who thought it was a good idea to do extra ones this season, and it’s helped the team. Strathmore – where we went undefeated – was a very, very good tournament for us.
Vogel says that while Okotoks was another fun tournament to go to that will give his team added experience going into the biggest weekend of their season, it was a tougher tournament considering his side had to play three games in a row on Sunday due to the luck of the draw.
“Playing that many games back-to-back-to-back caused us to run out of gas by the end,” he said. “We ended up losing our third set by two points to the home team to walk away with bronze. Still, it was a lot of fun, and it’s just another part of what’s been a good year.”
After having that kind of success this year, have Vogel’s expectations as a coach been met by his squad?
“They’ve exceeded my expectations,” he admitted. “Honestly, with something like hockey they have zones where if you live in that area, you have to play for that team. It’s not like that in volleyball.
“Quite often, girls who think they’re better or what have you will go and play for the bigger clubs in Calgary. This year, however, with the girls who’ve stayed with us, we’ve been able to put together a solid team that has gelled together well. So, for us to do as well as we have has been phenomenal.”
