The Vernon Christian Royals came up just short in their home senior boys invitational volleyball tournament last weekend, falling 24-26, 17-25 to the Cedars Christian Eagles of Prince George in the gold-medal game.
Travis Hoogland and Ryan Price led the Royals with both solid back-row digs and power hitting, but the Eagles prevailed in the first set. The Eagles relied on solid serving and passing to pull out the win.
Royals’ setter Zac Dubland was outstanding the entire weekend, distributing the ball well to keep the other teams’ blockers moving and scrambling for position.
On Saturday, the Royals finished second in pool play by defeating the Mount Sentinel Wildcats of South Slocan 25-16, 25-12. Libero Jake Thiessen paced the team with great passing, while Cole Kitagawa and Tom Wolgram worked hard on defence to secure the win.
In the semifinals, Vernon came out with strong serving to buzz the South Okanagan Hornets of Oliver in straight sets, 25-16,25-20.
The Royals kept the Hornets off-guard with the strong middle attacks from Tim Bartel and Gareth Frisby, followed by outside attacks from Hoogland and Price.
Meanwhile, the Vernon Panthers went undefeated to win their home senior girls volleyball tournament last weekend at the Panther Pit.
The Cats dropped their only set of the tourney in the gold-medal game, a 22-25, 25-21, 15-11 decision over the College Heights Cougars of Prince George Saturday afternoon.
Vernon opened the eight-team playoff Saturday by sweeping the Seaton Sonics 2-0 (25-7-25-12) in crossover play. They then grounded the Fulton Maroons 2-0 (25-13, 25-16) in the semis.
Fulton claimed bronze by outlasting the NorKam Saints 2-1 (25-20, 23-25, 15-6) in 3 vs 4 game. They stuffed the Selkirk Highlanders of Kimberley (19-25, 25-22, 15-13) in the quarterfinals.
The Maroons went 1-2 to place third in their pool with losses to VSS (13-25, 16-25) and NorKam (22-25, 25-12, 12-15) before stopping the Mount Boucherie Bears (25-21,23-25, 15-9).
“It was a good all around team effort for our girls,” said Fulton head coach Sharon Shaigec.
“Beating Selkirk, who is ranked higher than us in the provincial AA rankings, was a great win, and then redeeming ourselves by defeating Norkam to win the bronze was a very strong finish to the tournament.”
