Mike Sodaro has seen this movie before.
And for the third time, the ending wasn’t what he envisioned.
The KSS Owls, ranked No. 1 for much of the season in B.C. high school AAA boys volleyball, settled for second best in the province for the third straight year.
On Saturday night in Langley, the Owls fell in four sets (25-23, 20-25, 25-16, 26-24) to Earl Marriott in the gold medal match—the second straight year the teams have squared off in the final.
“It was a tough loss,” said Sodaro. “Unfortunately the other team came out and did some things we didn’t adjust to. We played well all weekend but struggled in the final. I think we had some final game jitters, they’re high school kids, so that can happen.”
The Owls rolled through the power pool, then took down David Thompon, Delta and the rival Mt. Boucherie in the playoffs to advance to the final.
While another silver wasn’t the desired result, Sodaro said it was another strong year for the KSS program.
“It was a great year,” said Sodaro. “(Earl Marriott) was the only 3A team we lost to all season. It was a tough loss at the end, but still a very successful season.”
Eight players will graduate from Owls, including starters Devon Cote, Eli Risso, Sam Taylor Parks and Kyle Buchanan.
Cote and Risso earned first all-star honours, while Taylor Parks was named to the second team.
Cote, who will play next season for the UBC Okanagan Heat, also won the Spike Contest on Friday.
Bears bronzed
For the second year in a row, Mt. Boucherie Bears grabbed the bronze medal at the AAA boys championship.
After a hard-fought loss to the rival KSS Owls on Friday night in Langley, the Bears rebounded for a convincing sweep over Oak Bay in the 3rd/4th place match on Saturday.
“Our guys came out ready and put the disappointment of (Friday) behind them,” said Joel Kern who co-coaches the Bears with John McParland. “They didn’t let up at all, just put the pedal down and got down to business.”
Kern said brothers Ryan and Jeremy Bednar were strong on the outside and libero Riley Berthaudin was “a calming influence again, a stabilizing force on our group.”
OKM Huskies 10th
The Okanagan Mission Huskies settled for 10th place overall at the B.C. boys AA high school championship in Langley.
In the 9th/10th place game Saturday, Pacific Academy defeated OKM 2-0 (25-20, 25-23).
After being knocked into the lower half of the draw with a loss to Surrey Christian on Thursday, the Huskies then defeated Ballenas and Smithers to reach the 9th-place match.
