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Condors closing in on B.C. volleyball title |
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Written by TED CLARKE, Citizen staff
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Thursday, 27 November 2008 |
The Duchess Park Condors are two match victories away from a banner season.
The north central zone champions advanced to the semifinal round at the double-A boys volleyball provincial championship in Kelowna with a 3-1 (19-25, 25-17, 26-24, 25-17) win over Clarence Fulton of Vernon. The Condors also defeated Princess Margaret 25-16, 25-22, 25-16 in a seeding match Thursday.
The third-ranked Condors will face No. 4 Fraser Valley Christian Falcons tonight at 6 for the right to play in Saturday's gold-medal final. Fraser Valley won its quarterfinal with a three-set sweep of Fernie (26-324, 25-10, 25-11).
The other semifinal tonight pits the No. 1-ranked Mennonite Education Institute Eagles of Abbotsford against No. 2 Langley Christian Lightning. Langley advanced after a 25-19, 25-12, 25-18 win over Gulf Islands.
--- The College Heights Cougars left their slingshots at home. They could have used them Thursday to try to pick off the high-flying MEI Eagles at the double-A tournament.
“They are a very good team -- the No. 1 team in the province, double-A or triple-A -- and it was like a David and Goliath match,” said Cougars head coach Jay Guillet.
“Everyone on that team has been playing club volleyball for years. If teams want to play at that level they have to start getting serious about volleyball when they’re 14 or 15 years old, like they did, and it showed.”
The Condors lost the quarterfinal match in straight sets to MEI, 16-25, 11-25, 10-25.
The Abbotsford team shot video footage of the Cougars in action in the round of 16 seeding matches and Guillet said they used that to their advantage.
“They keyed on our top hitters -- Adam Starzyk and Steven Fowlie -- and shut them down,” said Guillet. “Even when we did get the hits, they dug them up.”
The loss dropped the No. 7-ranked Cougars out of title contention. The best they can finish now is seventh. They’ll play the loser of Thursday’s Langley Christian-Gulf Islands quarterfinal.
Earlier Thursday, College Heights knocked off Pacific Christian 26-24, 25-18.
--- Even though they lost two of three matches, the Duchess Park Condors senior girls got what they wanted at the quad-A provincial tournament in Langley.
Seeded seventh heading into Thursday’s matches, the Condors opened with a 25-21, 26-24 win over Brookswood of Langley, then lost their next two -- to Windsor of North Vancouver, 13-25, 30-28, 15-6, and top-ranked Kalamalka of Vernon, 25-20, 25-17.
“We ended up third in our (seeding) pool, which is technically where we wanted to be,” said Condors head coach Richard Mintenko. “We projected this is the best finish for us. This will give us the chance to get to the semifinal without having to meet the No. 1- and No. 2-ranked teams in the crossover (today). This works well for us.”
The Condors welcomed back setter Dani Broadfoot. Mintenko said she played well in her first game action is several weeks since injuring her finger in a school metal shop accident.
The Condors will have to beat MEI today at noon to get to the semifinals. All playoff matches are best-of-five affairs.
--- Meanwhile, at the triple-A boys tournament also in Kelowna, the 17th-ranked Prince George Polars lost both their matches Thursday. The Polars took a 1-2 record onto the court Thursday morning against Mount Baker, and the Cranbrook team defeated them three sets to two (25-21, 18-25, 25-27, 25-22, 15-7). PGSS lost its afternoon match in straight sets to Penticton (26-24, 25-18).
The Polars will play their north central zone rivals -- the Correlieu Clan of Quesnel -- today at 2 p.m. in a match to determine 19th place in the 20-team tournament.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 27 November 2008 )
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