Morning Star Staff
Losing 25-12 in the first game of a best-of-five final was not how coach Richard Bedard wanted his Fulton Maroons to start the Okanagan Valley Junior Boys Volleyball Championships.
“When everything that could go wrong went wrong, it’s not the best feeling,” said Bedard. “So we focused on getting the momentum back and started anew in the second set.”
The Maroons recovered and stuffed the host Mt. Boucherie Bears 25-18, 25-11, 26-24 to take the Valley crown Saturday afternoon. Fulton opens the provincials Thursday at MEI in Clearbrook.
“We let a lot of balls drop which is uncharacteristic of our team,” added Bedard. “Bryn Bedard had to run around a lot in that match due to inconsistent passing and made some amazing sets. Danny Aspenlieder and Landon Currie provided good, solid blocking and hitting, while Ryan Doerges had some amazing digs for us.
“We were down 24-23 in the fourth game, Landon spiked the ball down to tie 24-24. Then Kobe Romanovitch threw up two spin serves to get them in play. This caused free balls to our side and Danny put the ball down on a solid kill for match point. At least we didn’t peak this weekend.”
Fulton brushed back the NorKam Saints 25-16, 25-16 in the semifinals.
The VSS Panthers finished second in the Valley Junior Girls Championships in Kamloops and advance to the B.C. finals starting Thursday in Delta.
The Princess Margaret Mustangs of Penticton edged VSS 16-14 in the third and final set of the gold-medal match.
Troy Lorsenson’s Panthers swept the South Kam Saints 2-0, bounced Mt. Boucherie 2-1, iced the Pen-Hi Lakers 2-0 and iced the Sa-Hali Sabres of Kamloops 2-1 in pool play.
In senior AA boys playoffs, Fulton ended up third and move to provincials, starting Nov. 27 at UBC Okanagan.
Okanagan Mission Huskies and Princess Margaret took the top-two Valley berths.
The Maroons stopped Sa-Hali 3-1 (25-20, 23-25, 25-13, 25-18) in the bronze-medal match after losing a tough five-game semifinal to the Mustangs. Middle blocker Nick Prystupa, power Kristian Currie and setter Brayden Hansen fired up the Maroons.
