The College Heights Cougars pushed a perennial power to the limit but settled for silver medals at the TRU Howler Invitational senior boys volleyball tournament.
At the Howler, held this past weekend in Kamloops, the Cougars faced the MEI Eagles of Abbotsford in the championship final. The match - between two of the top double-A teams in B.C. - went to three sets and MEI emerged with a 25-20, 18-25, 15-9 victory. Earlier in the tournament, in their last match of pool play, the Cougars edged the Eagles 25-21, 23-25, 15-9.
The Eagles have won the past two provincial titles at the double-A level and still have last year's MVP, power hitter Colton Loewen, on their roster. In Saturday's gold-medal clash, he was a huge difference-maker.
"When they needed a big play, nine times out of 10, he delivered," said Cougars coach Jay Guillet. "He was just great that way, and they have an excellent setter."
Guillet said MEI's history as a highly-successful program makes the Eagles tough to beat.
"They've got oodles of (provincial) banners in their school, they see the history, and they play very, very steady. These kids, they start a volleyball program in elementary school and that transfers over. So when you're in those big matches, you've got to play steady. And (the Eagles) are accustomed to that. They play in a league with Langley Christian, Langley Fundamental and Pacific Academy and (including MEI) those are the top four teams (in the province)."
In the second set of Saturday's championship match, the Cougars fell behind 13-8 but came back to win.
"That was us going on a good, solid run," Guillet said. "Ben Shand had a good serving run and we were blocking and playing defence. Our defence was incredible. We got nothing but compliments from the MEI players and their coaches."
The Cougars entered the weekend at No. 5 in the provincial rankings, while the Eagles were No. 4. The teams traded spots on the newest list, released Tuesday.
Shand, a Grade 12 power hitter, was selected as a tournament all-star, as was teammate Jonah Gilbert, a Grade 12 middle blocker.
"Ben elevated his game as the matches got better and Jonah in the middle kept the other teams honest," Guillet said. "They had to watch Jonah because he's so quick and so explosive with the big height. If they didn't watch Jonah, (setter) Graham (Walkey) was there to set the ball right to him. And having said that, Graham had an outstanding weekend. He's maybe one of the most underrated setters in the province right now.
"Graham has the ability to make a great set out of a bad pass and he helps us out so much that way."
College Heights opened the playoff round with a 25-14, 25-17 win against Vernon secondary school. Next, in the quarterfinals, the Cougars topped Mount Boucherie of Kelowna 25-17, 25-19. And, to get to the final, College Heights defeated Walnut Grove of Langley 25-16, 25-19.
In their other pool-play matches, the Cougars picked up wins against Earl Marriott of Surrey (25-21, 25-17) and Delta secondary (23-25, 25-18, 15-12). In Tuesday's rankings, those teams were fourth and sixth respectively in the triple-A division.
The Cougars will see top-quality opposition again this weekend when they compete at the George Elliot Coyote Classic in Winfield.
