The College Heights Cougars were serving up a comeback, and Emmanuel Adefisayo was the one dishing out the punishment.
He reeled off seven straight serves in the third and deciding set of the gold-medal match which gave the Centennial Christian Seahawks all kinds of trouble on their side of court at the Jon Bragg Memorial senior boys volleyball tournament Saturday night at College Heights gym.
The Seahawks, who had been just four points away from wrapping up the tournament title, continued to suffer when Ben Mantel missed a pass in the backcourt which dropped them a point down to the Cougars.
Adefisayo’s string of winners from the serve line came to an end when Jacob Ringma, the Seahawks exquisite power hitter, landed a tip that put the ball back in the hands of the visitors from Terrace. Facing championship point, Cougars power Isaiah Ohori kept his team alive with a big kill but the Seahawks, who rank No. 2 among single-A teams in B.C., finished it with a sideline tip that sealed a 25-23, 22-25, 15-13 victory.
“Playing College Heights is pretty awesome and we just persevered,” said Ringma. “It was just about keeping going and not giving up and we didn’t give up. We’re mostly Grade 12s on this team and we’ve been playing together since Grade 5 and it really helps.”
The Seahawks have just over a month to prepare for the single-A provincial tournament that starts Nov. 21 in South Slocan. The double-A provincials are in Langley beginning Nov. 27.
“In our zone there’s not many other teams and so we come to Prince George for some high-calibre play and it’s really good for us,” said Seahawks coach Joel Ringma. “It was back and forth and it could have gone either way. That’s the kind of preparation we need for our own provincials.”
In pool play, the Seahawks lost their first match of the weekend in three sets to the Cougars, playing without Ringma for a good chunk of the match when he rolled an ankle in the first set.
Ringma, a 17-year-old provincial team player, was healthy for the final and made his presence felt whenever the ball came his way. The Cougars tried to keep it away from him but the Centennials are a veteran crew that passes well and Ben Mantel and setter Joshua Brown made some incredible defensive plays to keep feeding the power side for Ringma.
“They’re a really good team, Jacob runs the floor really well for them,” said Cougars head coach Linden Smith. “He’s a great blocker, great setter, great offensively and defensively, he does everything and on defence they got some stuff up that most teams would not. It’s good for us to play against those teams because it gives us more experience being gritty on defence.”
The Cougars, ranked fifth provincially on the double-A list, were at their best in the second set of the final. Ohori staked them to a lead with a series of solid serves, backed by a few alert plays at the net from power hitter Eli Woldringh and middle blocker Ethan Costley - both provincial team players this summer. Ringma’s smashing power and Skylar Mantel’s tips kept the Seahawks close at 19-19 but the Cougars pulled away and finished the set on the referee’s whistle when Jonas Struyk reached over the net before the Cougars had their three touches.
“It was a great match, back and forth the whole game,” said Costley. “They went on a few runs and we went on a few runs. We kind of got down a bit but then brought it back and we just got a little complacent and they took it.”
While there were no awards handed, Ringma was the obvious choice for tournament MVP. He has the experience and athleticism to know when to slam it down and when to tip it to find open hardwood.
“He really did a number on us,” said Woldringh, a Grade 10 player on a senior-stacked Cougar squad. “It was a great game for each team. I think we definitely could have gotten a couple more passes up but both teams played great and it was well-fought. I think we all played great.”
The Cedars Christian Eagles, ranked sixth in single-A, were the surprise team of the tournament, winning bronze in a three-setter (25-23, 18-25, 15-11) over the D.P. Todd Trojans. Cedars won its first quarterfinal playoff of the season in three sets, knocking off the favoured Duchess Park Condors, who came in with double-A provincial honourable mention status.
The Eagles have five returning starters from the team that hosted the single-A provincials last year. They’re led by six-foot-four power hitter Lucas Crosina, their team MVP at the Jon Bragg tournament.
“He’s tall and skinny and he jumps through the roof,” said Eagles head coach Roland Rempel. “He touches the top of the antenna and he’s a big part of why we’re finding success. D.P. Todd’s two big hitters (Matt Graham and Holden Black) swung really well but we just stuck with our gameplan and kept focusing on them and our defence paid off for us and we got some digs.”
After a weekend off for Thanksgiving, the Cougars and Condors will be in Kelowna for the Best of the West tournament, Oct. 17-18. The Eagles have three weeks to prepare for their next tournament in Abbotsford.
