Coached by Kyle's Brittany Marshall, Saskatchewan's women's beach volleyball team finished on the podium at the Canada Summer Games in St. John's, Newfoundland.
Alexa Smith and Erika Markentin earned their way to the bronze medal game on Saturday where they beat Alberta 2-1. Not only did they add to the Team Saskatchewan medal count, but they also established a core memory in the process as the ones behind the provinces only ever medal in beach volleyball.
“It feels so good to set that standard for Saskatchewan volleyball. Going into each game, knowing we’re an underdog, it just fuels us because nobody sees that coming. So every time we get a good swing, ace a serve, get a block, it just feels that much better," said Markentin.
Saskatchewan's tournament began with a 2-1 loss to New Brunswick last Monday, before bouncing back against Manitoba later that day for a 2-1 win of their own. They fell to 1-2 after a 2-0 loss against Quebec but still earned their way into the quarterfinals against BC.
Team Saskatchewan went behind early with a 21-11 loss in the opening set, but Saskatchewan came back for a 21-17 win to send it the distance, the final set going to the green and white 15-11.
The semi-final provided a rematch for the prairie competitors against Quebec, who entered the game without a loss. Unlike the first game, Saskatchewan took the opening set 21-18 before Quebec bounced back with a 21-17 win. Another close final set went to Quebec 15-12 to send Saskatchewan into the bronze medal game, and Quebec into the finals against Ontario.
In the bronze medal game Saskatchewan lost the opening set 21-17, before taking a 21-19 win to send things to a third and deciding set, a back-and-forth final game leading to a 15-13 Saskatchewan win for the province's third medal of the games.
“I’m not gonna lie, in the second set it was close–we kind of lost it there–but it’s just about not giving up hope. We had that. And it was an amazing third set. Money set by Alexa," added Markentin in the post-game scrum.
Smith and Markentin are both D1 beach volleyball athletes competing in the US, Markentin for Cal. State Bakersfield, Smith for the University of Alabama at Birmingham. More fun facts for the pair include that each have their own twin, Smith's sister a fellow competitive beach volleyball player while Markentin's twin sister competed at summer games in sailing.
The volleyball medal joins another Sunday bronze in men's baseball, and another in the 1000m canoe/kayak from Baer Robertson. Saskatchewan's only gold medal came courtesy of Leo Zheng in para-mens swimming.
Kyle's AJ De Necker and Team Saskatchewan took a 6th place finish at Rugby Sevens at the Canada Summer Games in Newfoundland. See who else is competing from around the region as the second week of action in Newfoundland kicks off today, the games ending on Sunday.