The defending B.C. champion and No. 1-ranked A division high school senior boys volleyball team in B.C. will get the chance to repeat.
The Vernon Christian School Royals are off to the B.C. Senior Boys A championships Nov. 21-23 at Selkirk College in Castlegar after capturing the Okanagan Valley championship in Lumby Saturday, Nov. 9, without dropping a set.
The Royals swept the Kelowna Christian School Knights 25-18, 25-18, 25-19 in the gold-medal match.
VCS used the switch to full court to their advantage by using their strong, aggressive serving to put the Knights off balance
and in tough positions to make good passes, allowing the Royals to block effectively and dig free balls to run their offence.
Setter Jacob Defeo made solid distribution of the ball in running a balanced offence and ended the match with 34 assists and two service aces. Outside hitters Levi VanderDeen had seven kills and Ben Molitwenik had nine to go along with three aces.
Middle blocker Liam Remple was a force at the net with eight kills and four solo blocks. Braeden McAmmond chipped in with four kills, and Josh Hall had two, with two service aces. Right side player Devin Hofsink led the team with 10 kills to go along with his service ace. Team libero Shaun Huizinga continued his strong play from the backcourt with solid defence and passing.
The Royals, who claimed the North Zone title at home in Tuesday’s playoffs by turning away Salmon Arm’s King’s Christian Eagles 25-10,25-20, opened the Okanagans by sweeping through pool play. VCS downed the Chase Trojans 25-7, 25-8, tamed the Immaculata Mustangs from Kelowna 25-17, 25-7 and then stopped the St. Ann’s Crusaders from Kamloops 25-16, 25-14.
Vernon Christian defeated Kamloops Christian 25-6, 25-7, 25-10 in the quarterfinals and advanced to the championship with a 25-6, 25-8, 25-11 victory over King’s Christian in the semis.
The host Charles Bloom Timberwolves placed trd in their pool with a victory over Kamloops Christian 2-0 (25-14,25-14), but then came up short against Kelowna Christian, and lost 2-1 to King’s Christian from Salmon Arm. The T-Wolves fell to St. Ann’s 3-0 in the quarterfinals and finished seventh overall.
The bronze medal match saw St. Ann’s defeat King’s 3-0, meaning the Crusaders join the Royals and Kelowna Christian in representing the Okanagan at the B.C. finals.
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