These are boom times for boys volleyball at College Heights secondary.
The school's richness of talent was on full display this past weekend at D.P. Todd and the College of New Caledonia, host venues for the season-opening Kodiak Classic senior boys and senior girls tournament. The six-team boys division featured two College Heights entries - the senior Cougars and junior Cougars - and they collided in Saturday night's championship final at CNC.
The senior team downed the junior team in straight sets, 25-18, 25-15, but having both clubs in the final was an indication of the current strength of the College Heights boys volleyball program and possibly a hint at success still to come.
"It sure (shows) the quality of the players and the efforts the kids are putting into the sport of volleyball at College Heights, and not only at College Heights. A lot of these kids are involved in Team B.C. and Summer Games programs and beach volleyball," said Jay Guillet, coach of the senior Cougars and coordinator of boys volleyball at the school. "They were rewarded for their efforts. They're improving a lot. It's also a credit to those coaches that have been involved with them in the community, not just at College Heights but with their club volleyball as well."
This year's College Heights senior team is stocked with nine returning players from the squad that placed sixth at the 2015 double-A provincial championship tournament. With so many back in uniform, the Cougars could be in position to take a serious run at B.C. gold when provincials hit the court in Langley in late November. Other contenders will likely include defending champion MEI of Abbotsford, silver-medalist Langley Fundamental and Pacific Academy of Surrey.
"Anything can happen," Guillet said in reference to claiming a B.C. banner. "You set (your goals) right out there. Will it happen? Who knows, because a lot of things have to fall in place. You've got to be healthy to start with, and the other teams, you don't know what's going to happen down the road. Unforeseen circumstances happen. But are we competitive enough to compete with those teams? We are - we're right in there."
The senior Cougars are led by Ben Shand, a Grade 12 power hitter who played for the 17-and-under version of Team B.C. during the summer. Shand was chosen as tournament MVP at the Kodiak Classic.
The College Heights senior team is rounded out by Jared Apolczer, Quinten Astorino, Jonah Gilbert, Evan Guillet, Nick Hansen, Nehemiah Ohori, Nathan Provan, Aiden Smith, Nigel Thompson and Graham Walkey.
In the semifinal round of the Classic, the senior Cougars beat Centennial of Terrace 25-18, 25-8. The junior Cougars, meanwhile, were surprise winners over the Duchess Park Condors. They won a three-set match, 15-12 in the third.
The College Heights junior team is guided by head coach Hans Minck and includes several players who were part of a silver-medal performance at the club volleyball provincials in Abbotsford in May. At the Kodiak Classic, the juniors had some shining moments in the final but were overmatched by their elders.
"I don't think (the juniors) were planning on being in the final," Jay Guillet said. "If you told them they were going to be in the final at the senior tournament, they'd be looking at you like, 'I don't think so.' So being there, it's like, 'Now we're playing our seniors and they're supposed to win.' So there were some good things that happened out there for the juniors but, for our senior guys, it was a formality. Both teams got everybody in to play and it's so early in the season right now that it was about going out there and having some fun and working on some things that you've done in practice."
Members of the junior Cougars are Zach Ohori, Matthew Shand, Dayton O'Neil, Rafael Rodrigues, Nolan Minck, Rylan Bowen-Colthurst, Isaiah Ohori, Ethan Costley and Nolan Endel.
The younger Cougars will be back on the court Friday and Saturday at the Junior Kodiak Classic, which has an eight-team boys division that will be played in their home gym. Later this season, they'll compete at the north central zone tournament, which is a qualifier for provincials, Nov. 25-26 in Kelowna.
At College Heights, volleyball is even healthy at the Grade 8 boys level. In that age group, more than 30 people registered to play. The numbers are so large that help with coaching is needed.
"We're looking for people just to commit a little bit of time," Jay Guillet said. "Right now, I've been running the Grade 8 boys practices but I can't continue to do both (the senior and Grade 8) teams all season long.
"That's the biggest challenge we have in our school volleyball system - getting enough coaches to volunteer," he added. "Especially nowadays, a lot of our coaches are community-based coaches, so it does make it challenging."
See Thursday's Citizen for more coverage of the Kodiak Classic.
