College Heights gains AA final 4
By Bob Carter
College Heights. PHOTO: Paul Yates, Vancouver Sports Pictures.
Langley — College Heights broke up the Fraser Valley’s fierce foursome Thursday night in quarterfinal AA action at the Big Kahuna BC Volleyball Championships.
The fourth-seeded Cougars from Prince George beat Langley Fundamental, last year’s runnerup, in four sets. They’ll join FV teams Pacific Academy, Langley Christian and MEI, the top three seeds, in Friday’s semifinals.
CH coach Jay Guillet said his team delivered a performance to match its confidence and the kind needed to play at the highest level.
“At this point, it’s not about the skill now,” he said, “but your will. There are seven or eight great AA teams, and you have to be willing to make three great plays to win a point. You have to be willing to make great plays the whole match.”
Ben Shand, playing the right side instead of his normal left, played well, Guillet said, as did setter Graham Walkey.
“In general, our whole team bought into the system, what’s needed to succeed at this level,” Guillet said.
He was pleased with the team’s blocking, too. “We got a lot of touches off the block.”
On Friday, the Cougars will play PA, which beat them 3-0 at the George Elliot tournament.
MEI handled another Prince George team, Duchess Park, 3-0, and advanced to play Langley Christian on Friday.
Grade 12 outside hitter Colton Loewen, last year’s MVP at Provincials, was again a swinging star and got plenty of help from fellow front row standout Carson Bargen.
“I thought our setter (Brendan Loewen) distributed really well,” Eagles coach Brad Knodel said.
MEI controlled the match nearly all the way.
“We never let them get any runs,” Knodel said. “And I was very happy with how we played their middles. We forced them to the outside — not their strength — and used our outsides, our strength.”
Langley Christian, which has a 4-1 record against MEI this year, rolled past seventh seed George Elliot, and PA defeated No. 8 McRoberts in three, winning the third 27-25.
The AA semifinals will be played on adjacent courts at 5 p.m. Friday. The spike competition will follow those two games with the AAA semis then starting at about 8:15.
Killarney stuns 3rd seed Van Tech
By Bob Carter
Jeremy Westereng had a good time in the Vancouver city tournament, despite his Killarney team losing a close match to host Vancouver Tech in the final.
“We had a blast at Van Tech,” he said. “For all the time you put in, it was worth it. And now we somehow topped it.”
Westereng’s Cougars avenged that defeat Thursday at the Big Kahuna BC Volleyball Championships with a pulsating, five-set upset of third-seeded Tech and standout Colton Liu.
The victory sent the Cougars to Friday’s AAA quarterfinals and ended the title dream of Tech, which had been ranked second or third in BC all season.
The Talismen had a late 3-point lead in the fourth, but Killarney rallied for the set and then raced to a big lead lead in the fifth. Down 14-4, Tech scrambled for three points, players hitting the floor with abandon to keep balls alive.
The round of 16 match then ended with a hit by Justin Mo, giving the Cougars the win, 25-19, 18-25, 21-25, 26-24, 15-7.
How did Killarney do it?
“Teamwork, consistency, communication, the attitude that nobody’s a hero, Westereng said. “We don’t get easy points. We have to be patient and trust our digging, our hands.”
The coach lauded the play of grade 12 setter Jackson Kuan and grade 11 libero James Joseph but emphasized the Cougars’ team fabric.
“The serve-receive was good as well as ball control and positioning,” Westereng said. “They’re skilled, not huge.”
And on Thursday, capable of the tournament’s biggest triumph so far.
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