By Joel van der Veen
DAVIDSON — All season long, the Davidson/Loreburn RaiTec have been proving over and over again that they’ve got what it takes.
Last weekend, they got to prove it on the provincial stage.
The senior girls volleyball team capped a successful season with a win in the 2A provincial championships at Porcupine Plain on Nov. 20 and 21, defeating Invermay in the final on Saturday night to claim the title.
Close competition made it a tight victory for the RaiTec, with coach Tony Baldwin saying the girls’ team spirit was a major factor in their success.
“They supported each other right to the end,” he said. “These guys were just rock-solid teammates for each other, all 14 of them . . . They deserved to win.”
After winning at regionals in Arcola the previous weekend, Baldwin and his fellow coaches had high hopes for the RaiTec in Porcupine Plain.
The girls began the weekend with round-robin play on Friday afternoon, defeating Langham (25-13 and 25-20), the host team (25-18 and 25-21) and St. Walburg (25-14 and 25-20) in Pool A.
The RaiTec met a stronger challenge in their final round-robin game in Kelvington on Saturday morning, losing two straight sets to Invermay (25-16 and 25-23).
Baldwin said the girls had had the chance to watch the team in action the night before and sought to anticipate the oncoming attack.
“We tried to do some tinkering with the defence,” he said, taking the blame in retrospect for what he called “a coaching error on my part.”
The team quickly recovered from its disappointment, returning to Porcupine Plain in the afternoon for playoffs and defeating Kerrobert in two sets to advance (25-23 and 25-20).
A win over Foam Lake in two sets in the semifinal (25-10 and 25-21) qualified the RaiTec for the gold-medal game.
Baldwin said that power Maddy Vollmer’s performance was a highlight of those matches, observing, “They couldn’t get a block on her . . . It was the Maddy Vollmer show, it was amazing.”
The RaiTec were up against Invermay in the final, in which Baldwin said they returned to a full-on offensive strategy: “just pound the ball at ‘em and see what happens.”
He said the RaiTec’s back-row defence especially shone during those sets, as well as Jacey Sanden’s setting.
The RaiTec also benefitted from having five Grade 12 players, compared to just one Grade 12 on the Invermay team.
Even so, the teams appeared to be evenly matched. The RaiTec won the first set 25-22, while Invermay won the second 30-28.
Baldwin said his team took a significant lead in the third set. This was interrupted by a lengthy stop in play due to confusion over Invermay’s rotation, after which the team was able to narrow the gap considerably.
“We really had everybody firing, and they did too,” said Baldwin. “There were hits that we couldn’t even get close to. . . We gave ‘em the same thing right back.”
The RaiTec surged ahead toward the end, with Jackie Losie making the final successful serve that resulted in a 25-19 victory.
Sharing coaching duties with Baldwin were Karen McConnell and Hallie Vollmer, while Sandra Baldwin served as manager.
Graduating from the team this year are Grade 12 students Maddie Vollmer, Karissa Rendall, Jacey Sanden, Kaitlyn Baldwin and Jackie Losie.