The undefeated Cochrane High Cobras senior girls volleyball team left it all out on the court versus the W.H. Croxford Cavaliers winning three out of five sets in a grueling second last game of the regular season Oct. 18.
The Cavaliers had a strong start winning the first set 25-21 and the third set 25-13. The Cobras were able to strike back in the second, fourth and final sets, with scores of 25-20, 25-21 and 15-8, respectively.
Cobras senior girls team co-captains Kasandra Trenke and Faith Solecki said that the game was hard fought from both sides, with W.H. Croxford having also gone undefeated up until that point in the season.
"Most of the teams we've been playing have been tipping over our blocks a lot or sending us free balls, but I found that Croxford was really swinging on everything and trying to wipe off our blocks, which we haven't really experienced so we had to get used to that and our defense had to work a bit harder," Trenke said.
"Beating them gives us a great advantage," Solecki said. "It wasn't the best play, but we made it through."
Trenke said a big focus for the team this year has been to build up their energy levels and she believes their comeback at the end of the game was something worth celebrating.
"We started off pretty down and didn't have much energy. Being able to come back in that fifth set with all that energy and having that seven-point lead on them was a huge accomplishment for us."
Both Trenke and Solecki are in Grade 12 and have been playing together on the senior girls team since Grade 9, along with all of the other girls on the team, they said.
"We've also been pretty successful at divisionals and zones and then most times we've gone to provincials," Trene said. "We've got a couple banners in the gym. It's been nice playing different levels of teams because all of our girls get playing time so we get to experiment with different lineups and see who gels together better and then when we get into hard games we know what works."
The team has been playing for the 3A banner while also strategically competing against larger schools in 4A games in an effort to keep them on their toes.
After their last regular-season games against the Chestermere Lakers Oct. 20, both the senior girls and the undefeated senior boys will get byes into the finals of the Rocky View Schools divisional tournament.
The Cochrane High junior girls and junior boys volleyball teams have also finished their competitive seasons undefeated.
