Hazelton Secondary School’s senior boys’ volleyball team dropped all four of its matches at a zone tournament in Smithers last weekend.
The Spartans lost to the Smithers Secondary Gryphons 11-25 in the first set and 23-25 in the second; they also dropped their sets against the Hazelton Christian School, 8-25 and 22-25.
Despite their loss, co-captain Connor Coukell said they managed to hold their own against other teams in their zone and the zone above.
“I was hoping we would win a set, but at the same time, we came close to winning against teams that are a tier above us. I can’t be disappointed at that,” said Coukell. “When it came down to the wire, we definitely picked it up.”
Dominique Melanson, one of the coaches, was impressed with their performance. Just under half the players are new to the team this year.
“It was their first tournament so we didn’t know what to expect,” said Melanson.
“I thought they did pretty well. They’re all pretty new to volleyball.”
The most exciting game was against the Prince Rupert Rainmakers, where the Spartans came close to winning with a score of 23-25 in the first set and 21-25 in the second.
“They just realized [Prince Rupert] had a lot more energy, so they wanted to get on that level and see what volleyball was really about,” said Melanson.
Savana Wilson, the team’s other coach, believes the boys played well, but said they still have a long way to go.
“They do need a lot of work,” said Wilson.
Coukell was optimistic about the team’s future.
“We got disappointed at times, but the fact that we could pick ourselves up was probably our crowning moment,” he said, adding that they need to brush up on the basics and communication.