Alberta Captures Silver and Bronze on the Beach at WCSG

Alberta's men's and women's beach teams returned home from the Western Canada Summer Games on Tuesday night with a silver and bronze medal respectively.  The 2011 Western Canada Summer Games are being held in Kamloops, BC and is a multi-sport games between the western provinces and, held every four years, opposite of the Canada Games cycle.

Representing Alberta at the Games were Carolyn O'Dwyer (Calgary) and Carly Heath (Calgary), coached by Christine Biggs (Edmonton).  Lucas Stepanko (Grande Prairie) and Zach Brown (Sherwood Park), coached by Ray Sewell (Calgary), represented the men.

Both teams had a strong start to their round robin play, handily beating both Saskatchewan and NWT.  The women, then had a 3 set battle with Manitoba in which they lost 9-15 in the third and deciding set.  The winner of that match would face BC in the final.

On the men's side they continued their success in the round robin, beating Manitoba in straight sets before losing to BC in straight sets.  Stepanko and Brown's record of 3-1 was good enough for second place and a spot in the final against BC.  O'Dwyer and Heath finished with a record of 2-2 for 3rd place and would play Saskatchewan for bronze.

In the bronze medal match, AB was triumphant over Saskatchewan in straight sets to finish the tournament with a win.  The men competed hard in the final but fell to a very strong BC team 18-21, 15-21.

Congratulations to both teams on a successful summer!

Alberta's 17U women and 18U men's indoor teams now head to Kamloops to compete in week 2 of the Western Canada Games.  For more information on the Games, including results and pictures, please go to http://www.2011wcsg.com/.