Oak Bay recovers after tough loss to Delta | BC School Sports High School Championships

Posted on Nov 28, 2018 in Press Release

By Bob Carter

Oakbay diving for a ball in Wednesday pool play. Photo by Paul Yates- VancouverSportsPictures.

The fifth-seeded Oak Bay Barbers rebounded from a frustrating loss to Delta Wednesday to win twice on the opening day of the Kahunaverse Sports BC Championships.
Oak Bay had beaten Delta 27-25 in the first set and led 24-22 in the second before falling 27-25. The Pacers then spurted ahead 9-0 in the third and won 15-4.
The Barbers rallied to beat Mount Boucherie in three (15-11) before stopping Mt. Baker 25-13, 27-25.

“We were just average today, not consistent enough,” Barbers coach Al Carmichael said.

Zach Moncton and Brandon Thom, the team’s top hitters, carried Oak Bay against Baker. Moncton led a key surge that helped to put away the first set, and Thom’s big hits led the Barbers in the second.
“We were able to put more balls into play and kept them (Baker) out of system,” Carmichael said. “And kept the ball away from their big middle (6-8 Jordan Simpson).

“We got the ball to power and they made smart plays, hit angles away from the block.”

In the Delta loss, Carmichael said the Pacers “served better than anyone we played today.”
Delta finished first in Pool F, Oak Bay second, Baker third and Boucherie fourth.

MARRIOTT SWEEPS: Once top-seeded Earl Marriott settled down, it had little problem getting past its Pool E opponents in AAA, beating all three in straight sets.

“We started with the usual excitement and jitters. Nothing came easy,” coach Al Schill said. “But we stayed focussed, and in the second set we started to flow and get things moving in the right direction.”

A big plus on the day for EMS was getting all players on the court by the third match.

“We were able to get everyone lots of touches,” Schill said. “Nobody was sitting too long.”

VAN TECH EDGES MOSCROP: Tech, the No. 2 seed in Pool E, beat Moscrop in three sets (15-11) and ended up 2-1 on the day.

The Talismen had beaten Moscrop decisively 3-0 in the Lower Mainland final, but this meeting was quite different.

“There was lots of improvement from Moscrop,” said Van Tech coach Aaron Lock. “They played a beautiful game.

But Lock wasn’t overly pleased with his team’s opener in the tournament.

He said his two outside hitters, Lachlan McBride and Karsten Nielsen-Roine, and setter Nathan Ho played well. “But our passing was sloppy so we didn’t get to run our middles as much as we usually do.”

LCS WINS TOP AA POOL: No. 3 seed Langley Christian was battle-tested in Pool A, winning 15-13 in the third against the top two seeds, George Elliot and College Heights, to take the No. 1 spot into Thursday’s playoffs.

The Lightning, two-time defending AA champs, lost in two to MEI in their finale. Both teams knew their seeding before the match, LCS earning first and MEI placing fourth.

LCS coach Brynden MacTavish has lots of respect for all of AA’s top tier.

“The matches today had something of a Friday, Saturday feel to them,” he said.

The coach was pleased with his team’s day.

“We did a good job of converting with our high ball,” MacTavish said, “and we got some timely stops.”

He pointed to the play of libero Ethan Visscher, left side Caleb Kastelein and setter Jonas Van Huizen as key to the team’s success on the day.

Now, he said, his team must keep plugging.

“If you don’t get better, you’re not going to be there at the end.”