Semiahmoo and Mt. Baker to Meet In AAA Boys Final
One team came in the powerhouse No. 1 overall seed, with the expectation of making it to the finals. The other, came in the defending champ who was every bit as intent on winning again despite their lower seed.
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.
