The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Brandon is the next tournament destination for Hapnot Collegiate's senior varsity volleyball teams. Both teams are going in with high goals. "My expectations are to play better and to have better results than Portage," said SV Kopper Kings coach, Craig McIntosh, whose team is ranked seventh. "In Portage, we went from not being ranked in the province to seventh because we beat Sanford. They were ranked second." To achieve the goal, McIntosh just wants to see his players perform to their potential. "If they get a victory out of that, that's good," he said. "If they play a team and don't play there best game as individuals Ð that I know they can play Ð then I get upset, which is like any coach for any sport. If you get beat by a better team, you get beat by a better team." The Kopper Kings coach is hoping to move up the provincial standings if his team does indeed perform. It will also help them build confidence as they head into Zones, which Hapnot hosts Nov. 17-18. Prior to heading on their trip, McIntosh said he intended to have his team focus on transition and their middle play. The player he is looking to step up is Scott Vancoughnett, who has been playing the middle position all year. "He's fairly good at blocking, but there's more than blocking," McIntosh explained. "He needs to get better at the other aspects of defence and he needs to work on his transition game." While McIntosh hopes for big things from Scott, the team needs to work on getting stronger in the middle. "I know after seeing Thompson that if our middle game doesn't improve, that we're going to have a definite weakness in that area," he explained. "Unless we improve our attacks from middle and our defence from middle, we're going to have a real definite weakness and a hole that they can pick on." While Evan Renard knows the team has to improve on that, the Winnipeg native is confident they can have success. "We have a good group of guys playing, really talented guys, so as long as we show up and get up there with them, we should stand a chance," Renard said. Kopper Kweens Co-coach Tiffany Anderson said their goal is to make the championship tier with the intention of finishing at least third in their pool. While Anderson knows it will be tough to achieve their goal, she and coach Ken Kittle have been working with the Kweens on court coverage on blocking. Serving is the concern area after struggling during a tournament in Cranberry Portage. "It's coming along and it will be interesting to see if they can do transitions from offence to defence playing top teams," Anderson said. The important thing is that the team believes in themselves. "A lot of the girls are even in skill level," she said. "I believe they can do it. It's a matter of whether they do it consistently." Co-captain Megan Hall said the team has improved as they've been working hard. "I like the progress," Megan said. "I think we'll do well as long as we try hard and most of all have fun." To her, the important thing is to work together, cheer, and help each other.
