Facing two must-win situations to get into the single-A boys volleyball playoffs, the Cedars Christian Eagles lived up to the pressure.
Off to a 0-3 start at the 16-team tournament at the College of New Caledonia, the ninth-ranked Eagles defeated the No. 8 Fernie Falcons in three sets Friday afternoon (25-23, 22-25, 15-6), then beat the No. 11 Unity Christian Flames of Chilliwack 2-0 (26-24, 28-26) to advance to the quarterfinals against the Credo Christian Kodiaks of Langley.
"The boys rose to the challenge and got a couple of wins and they played well," said Cedars head coach Roland Rempel.
"Fernie had a couple of big hitters and we were a little flat in the second (set) and gave it away but came out really well in the third. We started off with a 5-0 lead and it was 8-2 at the switch.
"They've been getting better and better all tournament. We started off a little sluggish against Bulkley Valley and were a little sluggish against Vernon but played some good defence and we almost beat St. Andrews, who finished second in our pool."
Cedars lost its morning match Friday to No. 7 St. Andrews of Victoria in a three-set affair that went down to the wire. The Sabres won 25-21, 20-25, 15-13.
The Eagles finished third in the B Pool with a 2-3 record and now can finish no worse than eighth, which Rempel says is no surprise.
"My goal all year was for us to be top-eight and we will be top-eight," Rempel said. "The cards aren't in our favour (to advance to the semifinals), we just played a match and now we're back on the floor to play Credo, and they had a good hour-and-a-half between their last match.
"We're a little tired and we're a small team at eight (players) so most guys see the floor all the time. If fatigue doesn't set in we've got a shot."
The Eagles went on to lose to Credo Christian 3-0 (25-20, 25-6, 25-18) and will play for seventh place today at 11:10 a.m., against the loser of Friday's St. Andrews-Kelowna Christian playoff.
Ranked No. 3 provincially, Credo Christian came up with the biggest upset of the round-robin tournament, knocking off the top-ranked Centennial Seahawks of Terrace 2-0 (25-21, 28-26) to finish at 4-0 and claim top spot in the A Pool.
Despite the quarterfinal loss for Cedars, Joel Nelson, the Eagles' Grade 12 captain, has been a standout at the power hitter position all tournament.
"He's been dynamite, making the backdoor attacks, just solid on defence and getting his serves in - he's been leading us by example," said Rempel. "Our defence is what's been keeping us in the games, actually, because we're not the biggest team or the hardest-hitting team and we don't have the biggest hitters. But what we do have is a bunch of guys who play defence and are following the system we put in place and they're starting to hit the spots we teach them to and good things have been happening."
Vernon Christian went 4-0 to win the B Pool and advanced to a quarterfinal playoff against Mt. Sentinel of South Slocan. The other quarterfinal matchup Friday night was Centennial versus Bulkley Valley.
The quarterfinal winners will meet in the semifinals today at 9:10 a.m. Placement matches will follow at 11:10 a.m., 12:20 and 1:30 p.m., followed by a skills competition at 3. The bronze-medal game is scheduled for 4 p.m., and the championship match is at 6.
