Matt Lewis did not like what he saw last year at the B.C. provincial championships and is convinced his players did not either.
“Last year, I would have to say that team was one of the most skilled teams I have coached, but they didn’t have that motivational drive” said the Langley Fundamental Titans senior boys volleyball team.
“I think my whole team last year knew they were awesome or really good at volleyball, so I think a lot them expected that was going to get them far.”
The team wound up finishing seventh at the B.C. senior boys AA provincial championships.
“It was quite discouraging watching them play at provincials,” he said. “And I think at the end of it, and the beginning of this season, we realized just on individual skill or talent, we are not going to be making it that far, so we just had to buck up and play together.”
The Titans will get a chance to prove that beginning Nov. 27 when the open play at the provincial tournament. It runs until Nov. 30 at the UBC-Okanagan campus in Kelowna.
And Langley Fundamental is riding high heading into the event after capturing the Fraser Valley banner for the first time in senior boys’ program history.
The Titans did so with a clinical 3-0 (25-20,25-20,25-10) victory over the top-seed MEI Eagles.
Lewis did caution that the final score could be a bit misleading as the Eagles had lost their best player with a dislocated ankle.
“I don’t think that was a true testament to how MEI plays, they are better than that,” he said.
“But would he have made that much of a difference? That one player is not getting 15 points by himself.”
This was the first time the Titans beat MEI in three tries this season.
And Lewis knows his team has the potential to medal at provincials.
The goal at the start of the year was to be playing in the gold medal match.
“I knew the calibre of team we had and how they did in juniors and how they did last year,” he explained.
The majority of the starters are in Grade 12 and two years, the nucleus of this team won the junior provincial title.
At the Fraser Valleys, the Titans were led by MVP Carson Heppell while Steven Hsu and Denham O’Reilly both earned all-stars.
Lewis added that Michael Hsu and Tristan Loewen were also worthy of all-star consideration.
“Between them (Steven, Denham, Michael and Tristan), I would say all four of them are the same calibre players.”
