Things didn't look good early on for the 15-and-under Kodiaks Red girls squad.
The Prince George Youth Volleyball Club team had just opened the Volleyball Canada Open championships in Calgary with three straight losses in its round-robin pool.
But instead of getting down on themselves, the Kodiaks rallied back, stayed loose and went 5-1 in their last six games - including a three-game winning streak against Alberta-based teams that took them all the way to winning the national 15U girls Division 3 Tier 4 title Saturday night.
Kodiaks Red edged PVC from Alberta in three sets, 20-25, 27-25, 15-6 to win the championship final.
"We fell behind 13-5 in the second set and came back to win it after eight straight points," said coach Jasen Florrell. "The third set was close too and we were down 8-6 and wound up winning it so that was good.
"We're really pretty excited. I just wanted them to play well and hated for them to end the season with a sour taste in their mouths."
Florrell said Kodiaks Red didn't have any expectations going into the three-day tournament. They were in one of 10 round-robin pools that featured teams from Ontario and as far away as Florida.
"We played a team from Florida (Mojo Roxy) on the first day in our last match (a loss) and the girls had a really good time and had fun," said Florrell. "They were really loose and said that was so cool. That carried over into the rest of the tournament."
After the round-robin, the teams were ranked according to their record. Kodiaks Red went 2-1 on the second day and wound up in the playoffs on Saturday.
They won their first medal round game, then defeated Leduc Gold from Alberta in the quarter-final 2-1 (15-25, 25-15, 15-7).
They then dispatched Whitecourt Revz from Alberta in straight sets (25-22, 25-14) in the semifinal to reach the final showdown against PVC.
Florrell coached four of the players on a PGYVC 14U team last season, while the remaining eight played together on another 14U squad.
The team includes Sydney Davis, Brooklyn Guess, Amanda Heinze, Hayley Hirvi, Lilly Marsh, Lauryn Needham, Jessica Pallot, Rebecca Pinko, Cassandra Seib, Emily Shannon, Brittany Tallman and Mika Tillmans.
Besides Florrell, two other coaches were on the sidelines - Lauren Castle and Olivia Smith. The team manager is Carolyn Shannon.
The national title was the best finish of the season for Kodiaks Red. They finished fourth in 15U Division 3 at the provincial club championships in early May in Abbotsford.
See Thursday's Citizen for more club volleyball results.
