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Cochrane High's senior volleyball teams compete at 3A provincials

In a heart-breaking moment of Déja vu, the Cochrane High Cobras' senior girls' volleyball team suffered a nail-biting defeat in the gold-medal match at provincials, losing 19-17 in the third set to St. John Paul II on Nov. 26.

In a heart-breaking moment of Déja vu, the Cochrane High Cobras' senior girls' volleyball team suffered a nail-biting defeat in the gold-medal match at provincials, losing 19-17 in the third set to St. John Paul II of Grande Prairie on Nov. 26.

The narrow defeat at Lethbridge's Winston Churchill High School was eerily similar to how Cochrane lost last year's provincial gold-medal match – 18-16, in the provincial final's third set. 

Despite another upsetting loss in a provincial final, head coach Esther Sieben praised the Cobras players' heart and spirit throughout the tense match, and said she'd never seen her team play that well before.

“The serves, the passing, the hitting – they were on, and motivated," she said. "A lot of the seniors on the court, they were at provincials last year when we lost a heart-breaker due to an injury…and ended up losing 18-16.

“Second time was not the charm, it’s going to have to be the third time’s the charm. But the bottom line was, we were unlucky. We didn’t lose because of a lack of trying. The effort, work ethic, determination and skills were there. Rallies lasted a really long time – both teams wanted it that bad.”

The Cobras finished second in their pool, their only loss coming against John Paul II.

Unfortunately, their rematch with the Grande Prairie team in the final did not produce a different result.

“First, second, and third all came from our pool of six, so it goes to show how hard we had to work to even just get out of pool play.”

Of the gold-medal match, Sieben described the back-and-forth nature as the "way volleyball finals should be," adding both teams were equally matched. The second set also went to sudden death points, with John Paul II winning 29-27.

“John Paul was better on that 19th point and they beat us fair and square,” Sieben said.

The Cobras' head coach added she would like to thank Cochrane High School and the town's volleyball community for supporting the team this season, as well as ASAA and Winston Churchill High School for putting on the 3A provincials this year.

Boys finish fourth

Also playing in Lethbridge last week, the Cobras' senior boys' volleyball team made program history by finishing fourth at the 3A provincial championships.

Though they were disappointed to lose their last two matches, head coach Daniel Hasiuk noted making the top four was a new experience for the Cobras' senior boys' volleyball squad, and possibly unprecedented for the school.

“We looked at the plaques, which go back to the '80s,” he said. “I could be wrong, but it looks like it was the first time we’ve had a semis finish. Some of the folks who have been around a bit longer, [like Doug Jensen] might know better, but in recent history, it’s definitely the best finish we’ve had in a long time.”

After winning the South Central Zones tournament the weekend before, the Cobras headed south ranked seventh among Alberta's 3A senior boys' teams. Despite being one of the lowest ranked teams at the tournament, Hasiuk said Cochrane put forward a strong performance in the pool play to finish first in their group and earn a bye through to the semi-finals.

“There’s a lot of confusion from a lot of teams about how ASAA ranks teams going in. “But in pool play, we were in the stronger pool and came out of that pool ranked first. We had dropped a match to Barrhead that went a full three sets. We felt like we had them on the ropes a few times, but it turned out OK, because we were ranked first coming out of the pool, which gave us a bye into the semis.”

According to Hasiuk, in Cochrane's rematch against Barrhead in the semis, the _____ took the first set, but the Cobras were up 22-16 in the second game. 

But then, Cobras senior setter Noah Visvanathan rolled an ankle and was unable to continue. Eric Solomon was put in to set as the injured starter's replacement, and managed to pull out the win in the second set to extend the match.

“[Solomon] did a great job, going into the sport’s most difficult position, but unfortunately we lost the third set, which put us into the bronze match,” Hasiuk said. 

In the bronze-medal match, Cochrane once again came up a bit short as they were swept by the Cardston Cougars.

“We had a five-point lead at one point in the second set, but they were a strong relentless team, Cardston, Hasiuk said. “They came back and beat us in straight sets to take the bronze.”

What was disappointing about finishing fourth, according to Hasiuk, was that looking at the two teams in the final – Peace Wapiti Academy and Barrhead – Cochrane had beaten Peace Wapiti handily during pool play. Peace Wapiti had beaten Cardston in the other semi-final.

“It felt like it could have been our year, if it wasn’t for an unfortunate injury,” he said.

“But that’s sport. That’s why we play the games.”

Nonetheless, Hasiuk said a top-four finish at provincials was a great way to finish a successful 2022 season for Cochrane. 

He added the Cobras' returning core of Grade 11s and the school's strong junior varsity boys' team means the foundation is already laid to be competitive again next year. 

“It’s always tough to say goodbye to the Grade 12s we’re going to lose,” he said. “We’ve been working with most of them for two years, and you really get to enjoy being around them. Every year, the toughest part of being coach is saying bye to those guys.

“But we look forward to next year. We have lots of strong Grade 11s this year. We’ll reload with some current Grade 10s, who won zones this year. We’re expecting another provincial berth and hopefully a strong deep run.”

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