Volleyball team seeing success

It feels like the season is already well underway, but believe it or not, the Ratihén:te High School volleyball team is fresh off their first official tournament of the year.

Coach Jeffrey Nelson arranged a lengthy pre-season of exhibition games and practices, and all that work paid off at the Reseau du sport etudiant du Quebec (RSEQ) tournament hosted by Liberte Jeunesse High School on Sunday. Ratihén:te finished second in their pool of four and put up a respectable showing in interpool play in the afternoon.

“We were neck-and-neck with the two top teams,” said Nelson, a perennial promoter of volleyball in town.

“I was really impressed with the girls because they were not doing what we call ping pong, where you’re just throwing the ball back over. The girls were really using their one, two, three every single point,” he said. “For me, that’s a huge victory in itself.”

The team came strong out of the gate, dominating Augustin Norbert Morin 2, taking all three sets decisively - 25-15, 25-11, and 25-16 - but slowed down in their match against Esther Blondin later that morning, falling 25-16, 23-16, and 25-21.

The team went on to take a decisive victory in the first set of their interpool match against Barthelemy Joliette, but closed it out with a 2-1 loss.

Ratihén:te will stay put in level 10 with their showing, but Nelson believes the way they played shows they’re likely to move up a level if their luck breaks another way next time.

The players have shown growth not only over the pre-season but the years he’s been coaching them, Nelson said.

“The main thing is they’ve got it now. They realize volleyball is not just pushing the ball over. It’s playing as a team and using your bump, set, spike,” Nelson said, adding that the team is gelling on the personal front as well, with the girls rushing to help their teammate up off the floor after she dives for the ball, for instance.

Grade eight player Skanaie:’a Serena Ionescu, who was also on last year’s team, said this attitude helps them confront the tougher competition they’re facing this season.

“It’s a higher level, and I feel like all of the team does really well in working together and we’re all just getting better,” said Ionescu.

She also said the players have learned to relax a little bit and focus on the process instead of the result. Whereas last year she was hyperaware of the score, this year she is lasered in on what’s happening on the floor.

“This tournament I was able to just play. I didn’t even know we had won. I was just playing,” she said.

The first tournament was a positive experience for the squad, she added.

“I was really tired, but I had a lot of fun. It was just great to play with my team.”

It’s not only the coach and the players themselves who have noticed their development - so have their parents.

“Behind the scenes, on the bench, they’ll comfort each other. You really see the team forming there,” said Ami-Lee Trentin Hannaburg, Ionescu’s mother.

“It’s so nice to see every game, every year, our girls just keep improving and growing and getting better and working together as a team.”

The team plays again this Saturday, this time at a non-RSEQ tournament, the Citadins Cup 2 at Cite des Jeunes School in Vaudreuil Dorion. There, Ratihén:te will face some stiff competition - club teams that fill out their rosters with big tryouts, Nelson said.

“If we can stay within the game, it’s going to be a positive outcome for us,” he said. “If we can stay 25-15, that’s a great tournament for this weekend.”

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