It was a moment Rob Smith will never forget.
"That was like, I'm going to cry," said Smith. "I did."
Smith celebrated his 57th birthday Saturday at the College of New Caledonia in Prince George coaching the Kelowna Christian senior girls volleyball team to the school's first-ever gold medal in any girls' sport at the provincial level. The Knights dethroned last year's champion, Highroad Academy Knights, 3-0 (25-15, 25-20 and 25-20) at the 2011 single-A girls' volleyball championship.
"I didn't want people to know it was my birthday," said Smith after his team finished the tournament 7-0. "I thought at the end if we won anything, I'd say, 'Girls, that was the nicest gift.' But they all knew and they said they dedicated the game to me."
After clinching the gold medal when a Highroad kill sailed out of bounds, the Kelowna girls celebrated on the court before turning towards their first-year coach and belting out Happy Birthday.
"It was like, wow, you love the girls and they play so well and we have all this fun together," said Smith, who coaches the Knights with wife Irene. "It was just a really special moment.
"It was like a Disney script," he continued. "They go without losing a set [all tournament], win the championship and sing the birthday song to me. It doesn't get better. It was great."
It was the first meeting between the Knights squads since Highroad beat Kelowna in the semifinal at last year's provincial championship -- Kelowna wound up with the fourth-place trophy (see side story). Both undefeated all weekend and ranked number one (Highroad) and two (Kelowna) all season, it was three intense sets, but Kelowna's all-around talent was too much for the Abbotsford girls.
The Knights of Kelowna dug up everything Highroad put over the net, received strong service games from Jenica McKenzie and setter Rachel Penner, while Jasmine Randhawa and Micaylee Pucilowski placed their kills out of reach.
In the first set, McKenzie served seven straight points, turning an 8-8 tie in Kelowna's favour at 15-8, while Penner took her team's 11-10 lead in the second set to 19-10.
Randhawa, a 16-year-old power hitter, was named tournament MVP, while Penner -- one of only two Grade 12 starters along with Karissa Erhardt -- was a first-team all-star.
The MVP said she had an inkling early in the match things were going to work out.
"I could kind of tell by their faces first set, but they have so many good hitters that you just never know, they could come back and get lots of kills," said Randhawa.
Highroad had the momentum at the end of the second set, outscoring Kelowna 9-6, but they could never produce a string of points like their opponents, while the many rallies always seemed to fall in favour of Kelowna.
Whitney Zylstra, Highroad's middle and first-team all-star, said the sting of losing wasn't to bad.
"We played with everything we had, but Kelowna's an amazing team who definitely deserved to win," said Zylstra.
The Grade 12 student said she's satisfied to end her high school volleyball career with gold and silver at the provincial championship.
"It's not a terrible loss," said Zylstra. "For us three seniors -- Elina Caronni and all-star setter Richelle Hylkema -- it was a bit of a disappointment; we wanted to finish our career with a gold, but we're totally happy with the silver."
Another Kelowna school, Immaculata Mustangs, earned the bronze medal with a 2-0 (25-18, 25-15) win over the Richmond Christian Eagles.
Randhawa said the Knights were proud to give coach Smith a championship for his birthday.
"It's his best present ever," said Randhawa. "He's a great coach and deserves it. He's like our everything. He's so dedicated to this. Him and his wife Irene they care so much about us -- they took us to this place where we are."
