For the ninth straight year, the Credo Christian Kodiaks are the senior boys Fraser Valley champions.
The Kodiaks defeated the Abbotsford Christian Knights in the Single A title game last week (Nov. 13) at Abbotsford Christian School.
“Going into the game, we had the hopes of keeping that (streak) going, and I suspect, some expectations to win just like in previous years,” admitted first-year coach Nick Van Delft, who played for the Kodiaks until graduating from the school in 2011.
This past season has not been a normal one. While Credo Christian was ready to go in September for the season, the teachers’ strike delayed the full beginning of the volleyball season until October, and even then, it was a condensed season with less teams than normal.
In fact, the Kodiaks and the Knights were the only two teams in the Fraser Valley division. And in the teams’ lone meeting, it was Abbotsford Christian winning in three sets.
And in the Fraser Valley final, Abbotsford Christian put the pressure on by winning the first set and then leading 2-1 after the third set. But the Kodiaks rallied to force a fifth and deciding set before prevailing.
“The last points of a fifth set is when any team is tested the most,” Van Delft said.
“We played a great mental game, kept our heads and ended up on top.”
The result did not really matter since Abbotsford Christian already had a berth to next week’s (Nov. 27 to 29) provincial championships as the host school, so Credo Christian knew they would be attending as well.
But pride — and a streak — were on the line.
“By winning, we proved to ourselves that we earned our spot and deserved to be there and I think we also showed other teams that we are coming to win and can compete even in the toughest of situations,” Van Delft said.
Chris Snijder earned the Fraser Valley most valuable player award while Lucas Vandergugten was an all-star.
