By Bob Carter
Cole Brandsma of Abby Christian goes through the MEI block in quarter final action. Photo by Paul Yates.
Abby Christian coach Anthony Jansen expected Thursday night’s AA quarterfinal match against MEI to be a super battle, and he was right.
The Knights edged out a tense, five-set victory after being down 2-1 in sets and advanced to play Langley Christian Friday. LCS beat Kelly Road 3-0 in its quarterfinal.
With ACS trailing 12-10 in the fifth, Jansen called a time-out.
“I just reminded them to focus on the next point,” he said. “We only need a point. The next one is always the biggest one, and you go from there.”
The Knights got the point and the four after that to close it out, including a pair of big blocks.
They got strong performances from standout power Cole Brandsma and right side Conner Piers and plenty of support from others.
They had to overcome some strong MEI blocking and a great hitting effort from attacker Jackson Klaassen.“He’s really strong,” Jansen said. “He hits the ball from any position, and he never gives up.”
The narrow margin was no surprise.
“We’ve played them close all the time,” he said. “Even in our darkest times we’ve had good matches with MEI.”
MEI’s Luke Tiegen cuts a successful hit against the Abby Christian block of Josh Apperloo. Photo by Paul Yates.
