The Drumheller Volleyball Club (DVC) U-15 Blue Smash are Divison 2 provincial bronze medalists and are getting ready to compete in nationals.
The team, coached by Audrey DeBona, competed in the tournament at the Saville Centre in Edmonton from April 15-16. Last year the team competed in the championship in Division 5 and won gold. They then went on to win gold at nationals. The team has been growing and improving, and this year competed three whole divisions higher.
“This was a very high level of volleyball,” said coach DeBona.
The team was strong right out of the gate. There were eight pools of teams playing, and Smash won their pool.
They crossed over pools for the playoffs. They went up against Sherwood Park and were victorious.
“The crossover is the most important match of the whole weekend to get to the championship side,” said DeBona.
They continued on to the quarterfinals on Sunday and topped a team from St. Albert. This put them in the semifinals, against another St. Albert team.
“We lost in the third game, it was a heartbreaker,” said DeBona, adding what made it sting even more is they have beaten that team previously.
The team was without one of their hitters, who was injured as they regrouped for the bronze medal match. They cruised by the Calgary Lions in two games.
With this under their belt, the team is preparing for nationals, which will be held in Regina over the May long weekend.
“We are making the trek across the prairies,” said DeBona.
She is proud of her team. It is a young team with just five players from last year. Players come from Drumheller, Three Hills, Hand Hills, Acme and Linden.
“They’re really good players. They are really skilled. At the start, I knew how skilled they were, but they are young, so they had to learn a lot,” she said. “They learned a lot in the last four months, and they are peaking at the right time. They were on fire this weekend.”
“I like their competitiveness and their desire to get better.”
