Clippers ready for the province’s best

By Lethbridge Herald on November 19, 2024.

LETHBRIDGE SCHOOL DIVISION PHOTO Jillian Roest (left) and Hayden Hagel (right) sit on either side of LCI coach Derek Usman as they sign their letter of intents for their respective post-secondary commitments on Monday.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

The LCI Clippers varsity girls volleyball team are gearing up to hosts the province’s best during the 4A high school provincials this weekend.

The Clippers are coming in riding the high of winning the South Zone banner over the weekend.

“I think it’s very beneficial for us,” said Derek Usman, Clippers head coach.

“I think it was a hard fought match against Medicine Hat on the weekend and they’ve improved quite drastically over the year … but they pushed us. It was good because it’s going to prepare us for what we’re going to face in round robin starting Thursday.”

The seventh-ranked Clippers have pinpointed the focus aspect ahead of provincials.

“Just making sure they keep on track and we don’t really sway away from anything that we’ve done in the past,” said Usman.

“It’s preparation as normal and we’ve pushed them the last couple days.”

The Clippers will look to their strength of being a deeper team.

“We don’t rely on one or two players to carry our team,” said Usman.

 “It’s a collective group that gets the job done and it rotates every time.”

This will be the second consecutive provincials appearance for the Clippers and they now know what that experience is going to be like.

“I think that’s going to be the edge  that we have,” said Usman.

“We still have to go out on the court and get the job done but you can’t beat experience.”

Usman said it’s very, very competitive when it comes to the field of teams.

“It’s more competitive than it was last year,” said Usman.

“It’s wide open to be honest with you … So even if you are not top 4, you still have a very legit chance of walking away with a provincial championship.”

“We’ve faced a lot of adversity and stuff like that, so I feel like just that experience is really going to help us,” said Hayden Hagel.

The familiarity with their surroundings with things such as serving and air currents is what Hagel thinks  will help them lessen the pressure.

 “I think more so now, people know who we are and people are out to beat us more so this year,” said Mishynn Miller.

“Now we just need to step up our game a little bit and just be ready for any game that’s thrown at us.”

Signings

Hagel signed her letter of intent to play volleyball with the UBCO Heat on Monday.

“I really liked the coaches and I felt like I connected with them,” said Hagel, to the Lethbridge School Division on Monday.

“The team’s also really welcoming, and I felt even with just setting the hitters and stuff like that , we were already kind of forming connections just on that (May) visit alone.”

Her teammate ,Jillian Roesst, signed on with Camosun College.

“I really liked the coach, and I met all the players, and they were really welcoming and I really like the environment of the team,” said Roest.