sundogs volleyballl

The Great Plains SunDogs men's and women's volleyball teams have a big weekend on their home courts this weekend.

They're hosting the south vs. west league games at the college and the comp starting on Friday at 3pm. That means the three southern Saskatchewan based teams in the league will each play the three Alberta based teams.

Travis Cuthbert Interview"These are all league games designed just to eliminate some travel," said men's SunDogs coach Travis Cuthbert. "We have not seen any of the Alberta teams as of yet so we don't really know what to expect from them."

"We will be pretty much going in blind not knowing what competition we're going up against."

The men's SunDogs have had an up and down start to the season including a five-set loss to SIAST Palliser campus on Monday in a match where they were up 2-0.

"Sitting 4-3 right now which is a little nerve-wracking given the quality of kids we have at the school," Cuthbert says. "We haven't had our whole team together. We're not at a point where we have everybody at practices, we'll have everybody for the rest of the season for games, so this is the part of the season where I'm expecting to see better coordination between all the kids."

The SunDogs have had several players in and out of their lineup in the early going.

"Just with the dynamic of how this program works with kids coming in from all over the place it does take some time even when you're lucky enough to have kids together for the first two months of the season," he noted. "We haven't been that lucky and there are some other programs that have the same issue."

Curthbert is still confident in their group as they prepare for three matches this weekend.

The women's team is 5-4 on the season and off to a better start than in recent years.

Morgan Montgomery Interview"It's been great the girls are playing really strong together," said women's coach Morgan Montgomery. "We have been winning our south league games... it's been going really well. I know Alberta has some strong teams, but the girls are ready go and are excited to play some teams they haven't seen before."

Montgomery feels like their losses have been positive learning experiences.

"Those games that we lost they were close games and really could have been anyone's match," she said. "The girls have learned where their flaws were and where we need to improve. I think communication was our big weakness in those four sets and that's definitely changed. They're really communicating a lot better on the court."

"The boys have been really strong for the last couple of years so it's nice to see the girls able to compete here as well."

MEN

Friday, 2 p.m. vs. CUC (College gym)

Friday, 4:45 p.m. vs. Prairie (College gym)

Saturday, 9:15 a.m. vs. Prairie (SCCHS gym)

Saturday, 1 p.m. vs. Ambrose (SCCHS gym)

Saturday, 3:30 p.m. vs. Ambrose (SCCHS gym)

WOMEN

Friday, 3:30 p.m. vs. CUC (SCCHS gym)

Friday, 7:15 p.m. vs. Prairie (SCCHS gym)

Saturday, 8 a.m. vs. Prairie (SCCHS gym)

Saturday, 11:45 a.m. vs. Ambrose (SCCHS gym)

Saturday, 2:15 p.m. vs. Ambrose (SCCHS gym)