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The Parkland U18 Vipers volleyball season has now come to an end.

It was a season to remember for so many reasons. Throughout the season, the team won a tournament in Virden, their finished fifth in a 'Premier' tournament, to go along with a fourth-place finish at the Bison's tournament. The Bison's tournament brought forward one of the highlights of the year as the Vipers beat the number-one ranked team in the province.

Based out of the Parkland, the Vipers then finished in seventh place at the provincial championships. 

Chris Wolfenden was the team's head coach and he says it was without a doubt a positive year.

"I think it was great. It's always a building process and there are always ups and downs," said Wolfenden. "The climax for us was beating the number one ranked Cobras, that was a highlight for many of our girls."

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The team then made their way to Edmonton to wrap up their season at the national championships. Two days of pool play were in store for the Vipers once they arrived in Alberta's capital and the Vipers won one of their three matches on day one. Both of their defeats were tight and their lone win on day one came against SPVC Yellow as they beat them 20-25, 26-24, and 15-12.

That led Parkland into day two of the competition and this is where they hit their stride. Going up against the Winnipeg Strike, Velocity 18U, and Rhino 18U, the Vipers won their final two matches of the day after dropping a match against Velocity.

They then beat the Rhinos and Winnipeg Strike, both in thrilling three-set matches. Their efforts put them in the seventh tier for playoffs. They went up against a team from Ontario in their quarter-final and made quick work of them in a two-set sweep. 

The team's semi-final match was one for the ages. After dropping the first set and going down 10-1 in set two against a team from British Columbia, the Vipers rallied in a big way to steal the second set. The third set ended in heartbreak for Parkland as they lost 19-17 which saw their season come to a close in the final four at the national tournament. 

It was a group that battled right until the final volleyball.

"Anything at nationals is going to be competitive, each team puts in a ton of work throughout the season," offered Wolfenden. "I told the girls that I was super proud of them. They stayed competitive the entire time and they should be very proud of that."

The team's semi-final loss also brought the end to eight girls' careers at the U18 level. Bianca Beaudin, Kendel Gibbs, Emersyn Carefoot, Kiara Wilson, Lauren Vaters, Brianna Gryba, and Raelee Brasch have all run out of eligibility.

That means that the semi-final defeat was those seven girls' final game as a member of the Vipers. During an emotional time, Chris thought of how hard these girls have worked and how much time and effort they put into being a Viper.

"They represented our club and our region very well," ended Wolfenden. "They left it all out there. As a coach, they were such a good group because they always wanted to learn and get better. That's the type of player that you want to coach, I'm going to miss them all, and I wish them all the best moving forward."