The College Heights Cougars were one of the favourites to bring gold away from the junior boys volleyball provincials. Instead, they settled for sixth place in the 24-team tournament, which concluded Saturday in West Kelowna.
The second-ranked Cougars had their hopes of B.C. gold dashed when they lost to the eventual-champion George Elliot Coyotes of Winfield 25-19, 25-23 in the quarterfinal playoff round. College Heights had faced George Elliot twice during the season and had won both matches convincingly (including a 25-16, 25-12 victory in a tournament final in early November) but the Coyotes were the sharper team under the glare of the provincial spotlight.
"Their energy level was just up," Cougars coach Hans Minck said of the Coyotes, who went into provincials ranked third. "They were ready, they were determined. And honestly, I just saw on our team, we had a lot of kids that were very nervous. It was a big deal, a big show, a big tournament and lots of people watching us, talking about us because of our ranking and our previous domination of George Elliot because the other teams had lost to them (during the season). And I think our players just let it get to them."
The Cougars would likely have clashed with the Coyotes a bit later in the playoff round had they not lost their first match of the tournament (20-25, 25-18, 15-9 to Langley Fundamental) and finished second in their round-robin pool instead of first.
"The boys came out flat," Minck said. "They thought the round robin might be easy and they'd cakewalk it and of course when you take things for granted bad things happen to you."
The Cougars rebounded with round-robin wins against Moscrop of Burnaby (25-16, 25-8) and Penticton (29-27, 25-16) and started playoffs with a 24-26, 25-19, 15-10 decision against Langley Christian.
After the loss to George Elliot, the Cougars dropped down to the placement playoffs, where they defeated Sands of Delta 25-19, 25-22 but then lost 25-16, 25-19 to Abbotsford Christian in the match for fifth and sixth place.
In the gold-medal final, George Elliot outlasted Richmond Christian 26-24, 25-19, 27-29, 25-17. Earl Marriott of Surrey defeated top-ranked MEI of Abbotsford 25-20, 25-22 for bronze.
Two other Prince George teams - the Kelly Road Roadrunners and Duchess Park Condors - also competed at provincials. The Roadrunners, who placed third at the north central zones, finished an impressive 13th and the zone-finalist Condors ended up 15th. Both teams were second in their pools and then lost their playoff openers, Kelly Road 25-19, 25-16 to Sands and Duchess Park 19-25, 25-18, 15-9 to Richmond. Later, the Roadrunners downed Victoria's Claremont 25-15, 25-22 for 13th place and the Condors beat Vernon Christian 25-21, 25-19 for 15th.
Nolan Minck, a Grade 10 power hitter for the Cougars, was chosen as a tournament all-star.
The PGSS Polars posted a 1-4 record and finished 23rd at the 32-team junior girls volleyball provincials in Delta on the weekend.
The fresh-faced Polars picked up their lone win against the Elphinstone Cougars of Gibsons. The pool-play contest ended 21-25, 28-26, 15-13 in favour of PGSS. Even though the Polars dropped their other matches, they didn't make anything easy on their opponents.
"We played really well on the Saturday," said PGSS coach Jasen Florell. "I have six Grade 9 starters and they held their own. We never got blown away - I think we scored over 20 in every game and we went three sets twice.
"They never gave up and it was a good learning experience, especially for the Grade 9 kids who are hoping to be back next year."
