All season long, the Langley Fundamental Titans and Langley Christian Lightning have waged a neck-and-neck season series, with the teams alternating who would win.
And the last chapter of the local rivalry went in favour of the Titans who beat the Lightning in the third-place game at the B.C. junior boys provincial volleyball championships.
The tournament was held Nov. 21 to Nov. 23 at Abbotsford’s MEI Secondary.
“We were pretty excited about that,” said Langley Fundamental coach Dan Johnson.
“All season long, it has been a battle between us.
“We have been neck-and-neck all year.”
Prior to meeting at provincials, the Titans had knocked the Lightning out of contention at one tournament while Langley Christian returned the favour at two others.
In league play, it was the Lightning taking top spot but in the district championship game, the Titans prevailed in five sets.
The teams met again in the quarter-finals of the Fraser Valley championships, with the Lightning winning en route to a second-place finish. The Titans placed fifth and both moved on to provincials.
Both teams won their pools at provincials and then won their respective round of 16 and quarter-final games.
In the semifinals, Langley Fundamental lost to the eventual provincial champion MEI Eagles while Langley Christian lost to the Earl Marriott Mariners.
Johnson said his team delivered a strong all-around performance at provincials as they used their strengths — passing and a strong middle attack — to their advantage.
“When we play to our strengths, we are a tough team to beat.”
The Titans Zec Johnson and Phillip Stahl were named first and second-team all-stars, respectively, while the Lightning’s Brennan Gardner was a first team all-star as well.
Gardner and Linden Bontkes were also Fraser Valley first team all-stars the week before.
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The Langley Christian Lightning junior girls volleyball team placed ninth at the B.C. provincial championships held over the weekend at Surrey’s Seaquam Secondary and South Delta Secondary.
The team won both of their pool games but lost to Surrey Christian in the quarter-finals. The Lightning did rebound to win their final two games of the tournament.
It was the program’s first appearance at provincial championships in school history.
The Lightning had also placed sixth at the Fraser Valley championships the week before.
