Another year, another medal at SHSAA 5A Boys Provincials for the Swift Current Comp Senior Colts volleyball team.

For the third-straight year, the Colts brought home hardware from Provincials - this year it was a Silver medal in Prince Albert. 

Swift Current started out with a comfortable 4-0 round robin record.

The won their opener over Regina LeBoldus (23-25, 25-13, 15-9), defeated Lloydminster in straight sets (25-14, 25-14), swept Saskatoon Centennial (25-11, 25-17), and earned another straight set win over Meadow Lake (25-19, 25-19).

The Senior Colts seemed to be firing on all cylinders on their way to the quarter-finals.

"I think our passing was phenomenal this weekend - Theo Schlamp, my libero, stepped up and had a great weekend, and my two Powers, Henry Rempel and Clay Thierman also passed well," said Colts head coach Dan Andrie. "I think just being able to get our big guy the ball - Henry Rempel was on fire this weekend. He was hitting everything - he was hitting deep, he was hitting hard, he was hitting off of blocks, and he really matured this weekend as a hitter. That helped us clean up pretty easily throughout the round robin."

Swift then laid a beatdown of Yorkton in the quarter-finals, earning a straight-set victory (25-10, 25-18).

The Colts then worked a three-set semi-final win over Meadow Lake, where the aforementioned Rempel shouldered a large workload.

"Henry knows that he's the guy. He knows that, in the pressure situations, we're going to go to him - he loves it and he embraces that role very well," said Andrie. "The combination of that want of the ball, and also just progressing mentally when he's hitting the ball, it came together really nicely this weekend.

"I think everybody on the court knew the ball was going to him, the nice thing was that even though the opponent knew the ball was coming to him, they couldn't stop him - he was just hitting the ball so well."

The win in the semis led to a rematch with Balgonie Greenall.

After the Colts were up-ended in three sets the previous weekend in the Regional Final, Swift fell in straight sets (18-25, 23-25), this time with a Gold medal on the line.

"I thought we did really well this weekend. We won a lot of the passing and serving matchups that are important for winning games," Andrie noted. "I even think in the final we played a good game - I thought Balgonie just out-served us a little bit and that was the difference in the game."

Andrie and the Colts seem to have a lot of appreciation for the recent rivalry the past couple seasons with Balgonie, as this year produced a pair of tough tests for both teams.

"That group of guys that have been moving up with the same age group as the boys we have now, they're all great players - there's provincial team players on that team," Andrie said of the Griffins. "Their setter is fantastic - he puts the ball where it's supposed to go. Their hitters are really smart - they use the hands of blockers. They're not the tallest kids, but they hit shots that are very tough to dig up. Their defense is fantastic as well. So, they just do all the little things right, and they're very, very hard to play against."

Following a 2016 Provincial Bronze medal and 2017 Provincial Gold, this year's Silver came with a relatively new cast.

Swift returned just two starters from the previous season - setter Brett Theise, and Rempel. They graduated their regular trio of middles - Quinn Hodges, Dane Wright, and Dayton Patzer, as well as standout left side Braedon Friesen.

"Logan Fritzke out at right side, we lost him as well, and our libero Tyler Peters - it was a big turnaround in the starting lineup," said Andrie. "There were guys that were on the bench last year that stepped up and played well this year."

Andrie added that it shows the importance of depth on a team.

"And the young guys buying into the systems, and learning from the older guys, because then when we move on from year-to-year, it's much easier to plug guys in, and they know what to do and they embrace their roles, and they step up."

That cycle of experienced rookies becoming veterans has led to quite the veteran-led system for the Senior Colts.

"It's a combination of just having some really good athletes in the program right now, and also that ability to have young guys see what the older guys are doing, and they learn a lot in practice," explained Andrie. "Even though the young guys don't play as much sometimes, just practicing against those guys, learning the systems, and learning how to win is important. Full credit to the older guys for showing the young guys how to do things. That what makes the programs successful. If we can keep doing that every year, then I think we'll be up there for quite a few years."

Andrie says though he wouldn't call it a dynasty, it's great to see the Senior Colts' work getting rewarded the past three years.

The Colts' silver-medal winning roster is below:

Brock Wall
Brett Theise
Theo Schlamp
Shaye Wall
Ethan Murdoch
Clay Thierman
Mattaus Janzen
Zach Glydon
Parker Bloom
Judah Matthies
Henry Rempel
Jesse Patzer