The Niverville High School’s Varsity Girls have won their AAA Provincials, under the guidance of coach Carl Fast.
Fast says that the number one highlight of Provincials for him was that the entire team managed to play and contribute to the victory.
“It was a complete team effort,” he says.
The Panthers won all their sets during the round robin portion of the competition, and Fast says the team went into the playoffs with confidence.
“In the playoffs, we knew that any team could win, but if we played to our potential, we were the best team in Provincials.”
That confidence served them well as they dominated the quarterfinals against the Stonewall Rams.
Fast says he was slightly nervous about playing Stonewall, as he knew they had an excellent team that had knocked the Panthers out of contention two years earlier at Junior Varsity Provincials.
But the girls pulled off two big wins, taking the first set 25–11 and the second 25–14.
In the semifinals, the team went up against the Swan Valley Tigers and lost their first set 25–23. They came back hard, though, and won the next two sets 25–14 and 15–5.
In the finals, Niverville met Léo-Rémillard CSLR, which had just knocked off the second-seeded Neelin Spartans in a tight match.
“We knew they would give us everything we could handle,” says Fast.
The Panthers won the first set 25–16, but then dropped the next one 25–23. The girls won the final set handily with a score of 15–4.
“In that final set, Melissa Zapp just took over with a very difficult serve that Léo-Rémillard couldn’t handle on that day and the rest is history,” Fast says. “The hard work the girls put into this tournament was obvious, but a highlight was in the third set in both semis and finals when Melissa Zapp served 10 straight points in both matches.”
This year was Fast’s final one at Niverville High School, and he says he has many exciting moments to look back on. He’s especially proud that this team only lost two matches the entire season.
Coach Fast says that each and every girl on the squad played incredibly well this season. But at Provincials, three Panthers were singled out. Malia Thiessen was voted Most Valuable Player and Melissa Zapp and Aysia Richards were named tournament all-stars.
“This is the best high school girls team I’ve coached,” Fast adds. “And the future is still strong next year!”
