The Muenster Volleyball Club won bronze at provincials last weekend in an “exciting” game against the Saskatoon Smash.

“It felt like a long game. There’s a lot of emotions running through because we’ve never actually played for a medal in Tier 1 before,” 18-year old Shelby Engele said.

Muenster lost the first set but won the next two.

“It was a long, hard, well-fought game for our team.”

The win meant a lot to them, as they had aimed to place in Tier 1 after coming in seventh place last year.

“I thought, wow, we actually did it. We worked so hard for this and all our hard work has paid off,” Engele said.

The team has great coaches - Jewel and Devon Varga, and Melanie Blechinger - who keep the players focused on winning the next point rather than the outcome of the game, Engele said.

“The way that they coached, they kept the practices fun but they made sure we worked hard and then the mentality part of it too was a big part of it.”

The team has members from Muenster, Annaheim, Watson and Naicam, which means they play each other in school volleyball.

“It’s different and weird but it’s kind of fun because we know how each of us plays which makes the game a lot more interesting. But it doesn’t affect our friendship with each other because we all know how competitive we are,” Engele said.

The team is now gearing up for nationals, which start May 20 in Edmonton.

Last year the club placed in the top half of 74 teams, and want to do better this time in a field of 104.

Their approach, however, isn’t changing.

“Play hard every game and just try to do our best.”