Todd Kuc may want to pick up a lottery ticket someday soon.
The Kelly Road senior boys' volleyball coach made a bold prediction before his team faced the undefeated College Heights Cougars on Saturday in the semifinal of the Kelly Road Secondary Senior Boys Volleyball Invitational.
"I think we're going to be the first team to beat them," said Kuc. "If we're firing the way we were the last game, we'll do it."
He was right. The Roadrunners were the first team to win a set off the Cougars a couple weeks ago, and now, they've handed CHSS its first loss, beating them in three sets 19-25, 25-18 and 19-17.
In the gold-medal match, the Roadrunners momentum carried them to a hard-fought win over the Duchess Park Condors A team, 25-23, 28-26. The Cougars went on to win the bronze medal over Abbotsford Christian 25-19, 25-22.
The Roadrunners are led by three veterans - Jordan Thorkelson, Mitchell Duthie and Ben Cooke - who are in their third season with the triple-A senior team at KRSS.
"They're showing a lot of maturity this year and have been to provincials twice," said Kuc. "This will be our year to really excel and, maybe, come in the top 10."
KRSS finished third in Pool A with a 3-2 record, falling to the Cougars and Abbotsford in straight sets, but they went on to beat the D.P. Todd Trojans in the quarterfinal 25-21, 25-15 to set up the clash with the Cougars.
"We played very well," said Kuc about the match with the Trojans. "We were very consistent. That's probably the best game we've played as a team this year."
The Cougars were without Tanner Wheeler for the tournament after the power hitter suffered a concussion at the Best of the West tournament in Kelowna the previous weekend. Lucas Badial was "called up" from the Cougars B team to replace Wheeler.
"I'm learning a lot, positioning and everything, just watching them play is learning a lot," said the Grade 11 student at CHSS.
Thorkelson, the Roadrunners' co-captain, said with Wheeler out of the Cougars lineup it allowed them to key in on other players.
"It's means that their third string power is in so we have to key in more on the middles instead," said Thorkelson. "We can shut them down instead of focusing on the powers."
The 17 year old said whenever a team can take a set off the Cougars it's a huge accomplishment because their so deep, adding it doesn't take much to get his team excited to play the double-A school.
"It's just having the right mental attitude going in," said Thorkelson. "They all know what they have to do. It's just my job to have them have a lead to follow."
In Pool B, the Condors A team finished first with a 4-1 record, falling to the Cougars B team (3-2, fourth), while the Trojans (4-1) were second and Correlieu (Quesnel) were third at 3-2. The PGSS Polars finished at 1-5 with Chetwyn at 0-5.
In the semifinal, the Condors dropped the first set to Abbotsford, but stormed back to win the match 18-25, 25-22 and 15-7.
The Roadrunners are off to Kamloops for a tournament this weekend, while the KRSS gymnasium is taken over by the senior girls volleyball invitational.
Kuc said with the zone championship coming up Nov. 18 and 19 the Roadrunners are starting to click.
"Our defence has really been the thing that's really started clicking this weekend," said Kuc. "We've always had the hitters, but this weekend we're really getting into position, really moving and seeing the ball on the court well and getting into position to pass it."
