If local high school volleyball fans are wondering how and why Moose Jaw has suddenly become a powerhouse in the girls’ side of the sport, they only had to check out the action this past weekend at the Peacock gym.
Three teams from the Thunder Creek Volleyball Club were in action during a Sask Volleybal 15-and-under tournament stop in the Friendly City, and wouldn’t you know it, one of the local crews came away with the tournament championship t-shirts.
That, on top of TCVC 2 reaching the tournament semifinals and two of the local squads taking first place out of their respective round-robin pools.
While the event wasn’t the largest of its kind in the province, it served as a good indicator of just where things stand with Moose Jaw club volleyball -- tons of players doing all sorts of winning all season long.
“In all the tournaments we’ve been to, we’ve been in the top four,” said TCVC head coach Lorne Polupski. “We won the tournament in Regina last weekend and then again this weekend, so it looks like it’s coming together really nicely for us.
“We still have little troubles with passing and the odd serve or two that we’re missing, but once we get through that, we’re right there with the top 10 for sure if we’re not there already.”
It certainly doesn’t hurt that the crew of coaches running the show for TCVC are some of the same names doing the same at the high school level -- Polupski, Krysta Caplette and Haylee Bevan are all coaches with the 4A girls provincial champion Peacock Toilers, Joe Gunnis with the provincial-title contending Central Cyclones, alongside fellow local volleyball luminaries Aly Bell and Nate Morhardt.
“That’s a huge part of it, we have so many good coaches helping these girls improve,” Polupski said. “It’s carrying over into the high school level and really making a difference.”
The eventual tournament champions TCVC 1 went unbeaten in their round robin, winning 25-14, 25-17 over the Sun Dogs, 25-18, 25-6 over Estevan and 25-20, 23-25 over Route 20.
TCVC 2 split with the Butte Hurricanes 25-23, 17-25, swept Queen City 25-14, 25-20 and edged TCVC 3 25-23, 25-21.
TCVC 3’s other preliminary matches saw a 23-25, 25-11 split with Butte and 26-24, 23-25 split with Queen City.
In the playoffs, TCVC 1 defeated Queen City in the quarterfinal, knocked off Butte in the semi and capped off their tournament title with a hard-fought win over Route 20. TCVC 2 defeated Estevan in their playoff opener before falling to Route 20 in the semifinal; TCVC 3 fell to Route 20 in their quarter-final.
All in all, a solid weekend and just another sign of the growth of the sport in the city.
“It’s so exciting,” Polupski said. “Everything is taking off, our numbers have increased as players are coming back from COVID and you look at how well things are going at the high school level right now, most of those players are coming out of our club… This is a community club and we’re building skill for all the high schools and it’s going really well.”
Thunder Creek is off to a Sask Cup tournament next weekend, followed by provincials at the end of the month followed by the Open nationals in Edmonton in May.
To keep up with all the club happenings, be sure to follow them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ThunderCreekVolleyballClub.
