The motto practice makes perfect is a very apt description of the Langley Christian Lightning junior girls volleyball team.
The squad made school history as they captured the Fraser Valley championship banner, a first for them at the junior girls level, said coach Lisa Bontkes.
And the banner is a just reward.
“These girls have put in thousands of hours of practice,” she said.
The core of the Lightning squad has played for Bontkes at both the club and high school level since Grade 5.
And on Tuesday, the team defeated one of their biggest rivals, the MEI Eagles, in a thrilling 3-2 championship final.
“MEI was our biggest challenge,” Bontkes said.
The Fraser Valley tournament was held at Surrey’s Pacific Academy.
MEI won the first and fourth sets, while the Lightning took sets two and three, and then the fifth and deciding set by a 15-11 score.
The two teams were the top two seeds at the tournament and Langley Christian has defeated MEI four out of the five times they played.
The one loss comes with an asterisk as Langley Christian was without their captain and setter, Olivia Heinen. Heinen earned MVP honours at the Fraser Valley championships.
Morgan Hnidy and Jayden Bontkes were named to the all-star team.
For the season, the Lightning have just two losses: the one defeat against MEI and then another while competing in a senior girls tournament. And in that match, Langley Christian only by two points in the third and deciding set.
They have also won three junior tournaments as well as the Langley district championship.
The Lightning won all of their preliminary pool games to advance to the championship round.
They beat the Riverside Rapids in the quarter-finals and the Pacific Academy Breakers in the semifinals before taking down the Eagles in the final.
Another local squad, the Langley Fundamental Titans also qualified for the provincial championships, which run this weekend in Surrey.
The Titans placed eighth, losing to Pacific Academy in the quarter-finals, and then Riverside and the Seaquam Seahawks on the consolation side of the draw.
