The Prince George Youth Volleyball Club Kodiaks were ranked last out of 13 teams. Organizers of future tournaments would be well-advised to show them a little more respect.
At a weekend Super Series event in Burnaby, the Kodiaks -- a 15-and-under boys team -- got all the way to the final and were eventually presented with silver medals.
In Sunday's championship match, the Kodiaks took on a powerhouse Fraser Valley team and lost 25-15, 25-16. Earlier, in the last game of preliminary play on Saturday, Prince George shocked Fraser Valley with a 16-25, 25-16, 16-14 victory.
"It surprised a lot of people there, and even me," said Kodiaks assistant coach Colen Wilson, who works with fellow assistant Joel Walkey and head coach Ryan Thibault.
"Fraser Valley had a lot of big guys -- Grade 9s [who were] six-foot-four, six-foot-three," Wilson added. "They were the first team I saw when I got to the tournament. I saw them play and thought, 'These guys are going to be something. They're going to be the team to beat.'"
The Kodiaks managed to upset Fraser Valley thanks in part to their up-tempo offence.
"We ran a quick offence, where other teams weren't as quick so I think it surprised them a little bit," Wilson said. "Our middles played really great that game. We had some guys [Hunter Posteraro and Spencer Jeans] step up and we worked together as a team. Everyone was fired up and good to go."
The next day, the Kodiaks beat Vancouver Air Attack 25-13, 25-14 in the semifinal round. That victory earned them the date with Fraser Valley in the gold-medal match and, this time, the Fraser Valley players had fire in their eyes.
"I think they were pretty mad about the game before and they were gunning for us," Wilson said. "We had a big target on our back."
Other members of the Kodiaks are Nick Hansen, Ben Shand, Graham Walkey, Nigel Thompson, Jonah Gilbert, Quinn Reimer, Jared Apolczer and Nathan Provan.
The tournament was the first of the club season for the Kodiaks. Their next event is two weekends from now in Kelowna.
Also in Burnaby, the PGYVC 16U boys placed seventh in their division.
Meanwhile, at a girls Super Series tournament in Kelowna, the 14U Kodiaks Black posted a 4-3 record and the 14U Kodiaks Red finished at 3-4.
