The club volleyball season is under way and the Parkland Vipers 14U squad opened its season at a tournament in Winnipeg this past weekend.

The Vipers went 0-2 in  their first two round-robin matches on Friday, losing a couple of close games.

A win over Impact put the Vipers in third place in their pool and they advanced to the A-side of the draw with a straight sets win over Taika.

In the playoffs, the Vipers lost to a strong Big Sand Red team in three sets.

The Vipers eventually ran out of gas and finished eighth out of 20 teams.

Vipers coach Taylor Schmidt said the girls have been working hard in practice, leading up to the tournament, which was hosted by the Bandits at the Dakota Sportsplex in Winnipeg.

“We were excited to just go and play. A 20-team tournament, we saw some of the top teams in the 14U division and the girls really played well. They showed improvement in every set and every match as we went along in the tournament,” he said.

“Just by the end there on Saturday, into our fourth match of the day, the girls were working hard and just ran out of gas.”

Seeing an improvement from the start of a tournament to the end is something coaches look for early in the season and that is what Schmidt saw from the Vipers.

“Myself and my assistant coach, Brenda Livingston, before the tournament started, that’s what we talked about as a team. All we want to see for this tournament is continued improvement in individual play and team play. We’ll let the rest come out of that,” he said.

“It’s a long season, but it’s a very promising start for the girls to have a successful first tournament.”

The Vipers will be in Virden this weekend for a tournament hosted by Club West.