The 17U Kodiaks were one win away from a top-eight finish at the club volleyball nationals.
A loss at the wrong time did serious damage to their final placing.
The local boys team, representing the Prince George Youth Volleyball Club, was one of several squads in Abbotsford for the massive weekend event. During the tournament, the Kodiaks beat one of the top teams in Canada, Pacman from Ontario. But, when a win was required to stay in the highest division, the Kodiaks lost in three sets to NAVC of Edmonton. The P.G. boys, under the guidance of coaches Cyril Tobin, Dave Zapotichny and Graham Allard, were bumped all the way down to Tier 3, where they ended up in a tie for fifth place.
Meanwhile, the 18U Kodiaks grabbed gold in Tier 4 by beating a club from Nova Scotia in the final.
The Kodiaks are a young team so they had reason to be satisfied with the result.
"Our team was made up of four 18s, five 17s and one 16 and we won Tier 4, so it was a pretty good experience for the kids," said Dan Drezet, who shared the coaching duties with Allard. "To have that many 17s and a 16 compete against the top 18s in the country, that's tough. They did really well."
In girls competition, the 18U and 17U Kodiaks both tied for fifth place in Division 2, Tier 3. Mark LaFleur and Alisha Carlson coached the 18U club, while Allan Tong and Richard Mintenko led the 17U team.
A collection of local players will attend tryouts for Western Canada Games teams this coming weekend in Burnaby. Among them are Nic Balazs, Mackenzie Bouchard, Erika Morris and Brooklyn Seemann. The Western Canada Games will be held Aug. 5-14 in Kamloops.
Also this weekend, a PGYVC 15U boys team, two 15U girls teams and two 16U girls squads will hit kill shots at the Western Canadian Open tournament in Calgary.
