Royals bound for glory Lord Selkirk varsity girls volleyball team seeking redemption after falling short of provincial crown By: Mike Sawatzky Posted: 6:21 PM CDT Thursday, Sep. 19, 2024 Last Modified: 10:26 AM CDT Friday, Sep. 20, 2024 Updates

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SELKIRK — The gym walls of Lord Selkirk Regional Comprehensive School are a reminder of a glorious past.

Numerous provincial championship banners hang there, including the record 12 titles captured by the school’s varsity girls volleyball teams since the program’s first in 1976.

While the tradition runs deep, the current edition of the Royals wants to make its own imprint on history. It’s partly a redemption story.

The No. 1-seeded Royals, you see, came within two points of a 13th title last winter, only to fall agonizingly short, losing 15-13 in the fifth and final set of a provincial final showdown with the Steinbach Sabres.

This fall, despite the graduation of five Grade 12 players and the departure of star setter Zoey Purvis to the National Excellence Program in Richmond, B.C., Selkirk is back with another star-studded lineup that should make it one of the favourites for another provincial crown.

“I think about it often,” said 5-11 middle Danika Jakabek, a Grade 12 player who had a prominent role on last year’s provincial runners-up. “I think there’s some things we could have done better, but I don’t regret anything that happened, because we learned from it. I think this year we’ll come back and try to do our best.”

While there are significant pieces missing from 2023, including all-star left sides Carley Catellier and Megan Carpenter, one newcomer and another familiar face are already having a major impact.

Head coach Chad Whiteside has 6-3 left-side hitter Brooklyn Grobb-Prins back in the fold after her stint with the NEP during her Grade 11 season and the vacancy at starting setter has been filled nicely by Grade 11 rookie Paige Whiteside, the coach’s daughter.

“I think there is very much amongst our players an acknowledgment that this is a new year, it’s a new team, it’s new opposition and new challenges,” coach Whiteside said.

“I’m sure the idea of trying to get back (to the provincial final) probably has maybe a little extra meaning for our Grade 12 athletes. … One of our team expectations is that we honour tradition, right? We have a pretty rich volleyball history in Selkirk, so we certainly will talk about teams and things have happened in the past, but we really try to just use that as motivation for the current team.”

Grobb-Prins, who made a verbal commitment to play volleyball at the University of Texas at San Antonio following Grade 12, is the focus of Selkirk’s offence now as she was in Grade 10.

She prefers to avoid a repeat of last year’s defeat.

“I think that everyone was pretty upset because they lost by two points,” said Grobb-Prins. “I watched the game actually and it’s just crazy to think that if someone got one more serve in or got one more ace, we could have had that game. I heard quite a bit about it but I think we’re even more motivated this year.”

Key to making the whole operation click is Paige Whiteside, who has seized the mantle of court leadership despite her inexperience at the varsity girls level.

“It’s stressful at times, but the girls have been so supportive and so welcoming that it’s taken some of that stress away. … I really feel I’m settling in nicely,” said Paige Whiteside, following Selkirk’s 3-0 sweep (25-9, 25-11 25-12) of the MBCI Hawks in their Kildonan Peguis Athletic Conference regular-season opener Wednesday night.

“I feel like, with each game and each practice, I’m feeling better and more confident.”

Whiteside’s calm demeanour was on display Wednesday, just as it was in the team’s victory in the final of last weekend’s University of Winnipeg varsity girls tournament.

“I’m very proud of her,” said Grobb-Prins, who had 10 kills and four service aces Wednesday. “She doesn’t get nervous. She keeps the team so positive, and she really likes feedback. She makes a set. She likes to know where you want it, and (if there’s a problem) she’s really good at fixing it.”

Victoria McPherson, a 6-foot middle who has increased court time and responsibility in 2024, said being on the floor with Grobb-Prins is special.

“It’s quite the experience, because she always gets the ball over and always gets the job done,” said McPherson. “That’s nice to have.”

The Royals’ hitting star supplies more than just a power game, often using the threat of a big hit to place tips and drop shots to undefended spots on the court.

“I think my volleyball knowledge is a lot better,” said Grobb-Prins of what she learned while at the NEP. “I know a lot more about the game, and my service receive has gotten a lot better. That’s the main thing I worked on in B.C. I knew that would have to get better if I wanted to play left side.”

Her coach believes Grobb-Prins’ has made great progress.

“In that two-year span, from when she played with us in Grade 10 to where she is now in Grade 12, she’s really rounded out her game, especially in terms of her ball control and defensive play,” said Chad Whiteside. “She’s just that much more polished, right? She commits fewer hitting errors, for example, because she’s played at the higher level.”

The Royals, likely to be No. 1 when the Manitoba High Schools Athletic Association releases its first rankings of the season next week, have fewer than three months in which to refine their game in preparation for the AAAA provincials, slated for Nov. 21-Dec. 2.

They take pride in their technical proficiency as well as their camaraderie and team unity.

“They had really good body language last weekend,” said Royals assistant coach Kyla Anderson. “They definitely had chemistry for being just a brand new team together, right? Girls in Selkirk often grow up playing together, even though they’re different grade levels. That is one thing that’s kind of nice about a smaller community is a lot of them know each other.”

The coaching staff has plotted a path that it hopes will result in the club peaking by the end of November.

“There often comes a point where there’s a bit of a stall or plateau, kind of two thirds of the way through the season, and it becomes a grind,” said Chad Whiteside. “You’ve really got to try and push to get over that hump to then get ready for playoffs.

“Your on-court play and your technical knowledge and all the strategic points are one thing, but you have to have the camaraderie on your team, and you have to be showing up every night as a cohesive unit, or else it can fall apart.”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca