The College Heights Cougars were firing on all cylinders at the double-A boys provincial volleyball championship in Langley.
Now they're just two match wins away from bringing home a B.C. banner after an impressive quarterfinal triumph Thursday afternoon over the Langley Fundamental Titans. After losing the first set 22-25, the Cougars took the next three games, 25-16, 25-23, 28-26 to advance to the championship round.
College Heights will play Pacific Academy of Surrey in the semifinal match today at 5 p.m.
The Cougars opened the day by defeating the Mark Isfeld Ice of Courtenay in straight sets (25-12, 25-21, 25-12).
Prince George has two teams in the tournament and the Duchess Park Condors advanced to the final-eight as well when they defeated the Clarence Fulton Maroons 3-0 (25-23, 29-27, 25-16). The Condors lost 3-0 (25-22, 25-20, 25-16) to Mennonite Educational Institute Eagles of Abbotsford late Thursday night.
The Condors will play George Elliot of Winfield today at 12:45 p.m. for the right to play in the fifth-place playoff.
The Cougars are the North Central Interior zone champions and were ranked sixth going into the tournament, while the Condors were ranked seventh.
The final will be played Saturday at 7 p.m.
At the triple-A girls provincial championship in Kelowna, the fourth-ranked Prince George Polars opened with a 2-1 (25-19, 22-25, 15-11) victory over Matthew McNair of Richmond, then lost heir next two matches to finish pool play with a 1-2 record. PGSS was defeated in straight sets 2-0 (25-27, 17-25) by Mark Isfeld and went on to lose to Caledonia of Terrace later in the day. Game results were not posted on the tournament website.
The Polars will play Crofton in a playoff match today at 9:30 a.m.
The eighth-ranked Duchess Park Condors finished second in the seeding round with a 2-1 record. The Condors won their opening two matches, defeating Langley 2-1 (25-16, 25-27, 15-12) and L.V. Rogers of Nelson 2-0 (25-18-26-24), before losing to Timberline of Campbell River 2-0 (25-27, 25-18).
The Condors will advance to the quarterfinals if they beat North Delta in a playoff match today at 9:30 a.m.
The tournament final will be played Saturday at 4:45 p.m.
At the double-A girls provincial championship in Abbotsford, the D.P. Todd Trojans lost both their opening matches Thursday, falling 2-0 (23-25, 21-25) to St. Patrick's and 2-0 (9-25, 18-25) to Pacific Academy. The Trojans finished the day with a 2-0 (25-19, 25-17) win over Charles Hays of Prince Rupert to end up third in their pool. D.P.Todd will face St. Michael's of Victoria in a playoff match this morning.
