BCSS Boys’s 2017 Volleyball Finalist are Set
December 2, 2017 by admin
Filed under Provincial and Territorial News
BCSS Championship – Boys Volleyball
AA – Abbotsford Christian Knights vs Langley Christian Lightning
AAA – Semiahmoo Secondary School Totems vs Mount Baker High School Wil
Semiahmoo and Mt. Baker to Meet In AAA Boys Final
In front of a packed house on Friday night at the Langley Events Centre, the Mt. Baker Secondary School Wild and the Semiahmoo Secondary School Totems punched their tickets to the finals of the BC School Sports AAA Senior Boys Provincial Volleyball Championships.
For the top seed Wild, they made short work of the up-start Seaquam Seahawks in three sets, 25-11, 25-23 and 25-14.
But things haven’t always gone so well at Provincials for the Wild. Last season the team finished 11th, so what’s different with this year’s team?
“The boys grew a lot, getting taller and stronger” said head coach, Karley Ferner, who has coached a number of the players since their Grade 10 season. “Last year we had a couple hard working middles that weren’t very tall, but this year we have two Grade 11 middles who are six-foot-four and six-foot-seven, so that’s made a big difference.”
Ferner knew her team was locked in today because they never lost focus at any point in the match, even when they were trailing on a couple of occasions.
“They’re really gelling together right now and it’s fun to watch them play right now.”
The Wild have never won a AAA Senior Boys Volleyball Championship, but they have finished second twice. Once in 2001 and the other time in 2009.
“It would be the first one for our school, so winning would be a big deal.”
Semiahmoo, Back in the Finals
The other semi-final matchup saw the defending champion, Semiahmoo Totems knockout a team many felt was the most complete team in the tournament, the Earl Marriott Mariners, in three sets – 25-20, 25-18, 25-13.
“Today it was a real team effort,” Said head coach Michael Sapic. “Everybody knows that Michael (Dowhaniuk) is the best hitter in the province, but I’ve tried very hard to surround him with a good supporting cast, so today Micheal got his kills like he usually does, but everyone played well.”
He also added that after an up and down year for his team, it was nice to finally beat Earl Marriott for the first time this year.
And Sapic knows exactly how every player on his team will be feeling as they look to repeat as provincial champions on Saturday. He was in their shoes at Semiahmoo back in 1979 as a member of the team which captured the crown.
“My names on the trophy as a player, but I want to get it on there again, this time as a coach,”Sapic joked as the celebrated the win and looked forward to a match up with Mt. Baker.
And while Sapic didn’t want to give away too much of the game plan for the Gold Medal game, he did acknowledge Mt. Baker has some very good size, but Semiahmoo has a few tricks up their sleeve to deal with that size.
For the rest of today’s AAA High School Boys Volleyball results, CLICK HERE.
Knights And Lightning To Meet In AA Boys Provincial Volleyball Final
It was an exciting evening of volleyball action at the Langley Events Centre as both the Abbotsford Christian Knights and Langley Christian Lightning advanced to the BC AA High School Senior Volleyball Championships final.
Both schools are only separated by a mere 33 km, so it should be a rowdy night tomorrow, as these two Fraser Valley rivals clash at the Langley Events Centre at 7:00pm.
After a hard fought, very close four set win (28-26, 25-20, 25-27, 25-21) over a scrappy Duchess Park Condors team, Head coach Carol Hofer and the Lightning look forward to the challenge of meeting their Fraser Valley rival in the final.
“It was a tough match because it was an emotional match and I think Duchess just kind of lost control of themselves and that was the turning point for us,” Hofer said as she received congratulations after the big win.
Hofer will also hoping for a three-peat of sorts, as she has lead the her son Brodie and the Lightning to a Junior Boys Provincial Championship in 2015 and a AA Provincial Championship last season. Something she says that if they’re able to pull it off it would be pretty special.
“Overall, I feel great and I think our team is really starting to play well,” Hofer said. “We got better each match and we still have room to get better yet, so we’re in good shape for tomorrow.”
And as for what Hofer feels the keys to victory are in tomorrow’s final, she replied, we’re going to have to serve tough, block well and hit the ball well.
Knights Advance to Final
In the other semi-final, behind one of the loudest crowds in high school sports, the Abbotsford Christian Knights knocked off the tournament’s biggest surprise, the College Heights Cougars in four sets (25-22, 20-25, 25-18, 25-18).
Head coach Anthony Janzen was pleased with how his team preformed tonight, calling it a real team effort with all seven guys firing on all cylinders, including 16U Canadian National Team member, Cole Brandsma.
“Cole Brandsma was lights out today,” Janzen said as he celebrated the win with his team. “He’s definitely is a superstar, but he was certainly supported by six other awesome players today.”
Janzen believes the turning point of the match happened in the third set when his team flipped a switch and really started to believe they could win.
The Knights now look forward to meeting a team they are very familiar with having played them six or so times this year.
“Langley is an awesome team with an awesome player (Brodie Hofer), and an awesome supporting cast,” Janzen said. “We’ve fought back and forth with them all season, and I think they’ve won four times and we’ve won two, but if we play like we did today and make it a team effort, and all of our big guys are hitting, we match up really well against them.”
Janzen also added that winning a title at AA to go with the one the Knights won at Single A in 2014 would be pretty special for a team that wasn’t even at AA High School Provincials last season, because they did not qualify.
For the rest of today’s AA High School Boys Volleyball results, CLICK HERE.
