Sports Smashing performances at junior Kodiak Classic
They smashed the ceiling lights at D.P. Todd gym Saturday afternoon and that forced a last-minute change of venue for the Kodiak Classic junior A boys volleyball final.
It didn’t matter what court the College Heights Cougars were on, they were bound and determined to take their place in the spotlight when the banner was handed out.
For the second time in the tournament, they took on the D.P. Todd Trojans and seized the opportunity for early-season bragging rights, beating them two sets to one (25-22, 20-25, 15-12) in the final Saturday night at the College of New Caledonia.
The Cougars rode Isaiah Ohori’s four-point serving run to take the lead in the third and deciding set and were just two points away from cinching it, but a series of Trojan returns caught them offbalance and all of a sudden the College Heights lead dwindled to 13-12.
Cougar hitter Adam Doucette put an end to the comeback hopes with a kill shot and, serving for the match, Doucette again left the Trojans vulnerable on the return and power hitter Ohori ended it with a swat to the sideline that bounced off the arms of Colby Clarke and out of play.
“It’s pretty nervous in the third set and it’s the final but we kept our cool and it turned out great,” said Ohori. “We beat them before and that did help, we knew we could win.”
Cougars setter Matt Schenk turned in a tournament MVP performance. Libero Jimmy Brown and middle blocker Collin Joyce joined him on the tournament allstar team.
Schenk is one of 11 veterans of the Prince George Youth Volleyball Club now playing on the College Heights junior A team. The bulk of the roster played together on the 14U team which placed fifth in April at the club provincial championships. The Kodiak Classic win is the first of what they hope will be a string of tournament titles this season.
“A lot of it was that we were really confident going into this tournament,” said Schenk.
“Our skills are there and this was a pretty good game. It was pretty close. Most of us have played club together and all of us have been going to school together for awhile.”
The Cougars are a young junior team with seven Grade 10 players and six Grade 9s.
Head coach Glenn Wong has been calling the shots in school gyms for more than two decades and he likes what he’s seen out of his team so far. No other junior A boys team in region has as many club volleyball veterans as he has on his Cougar team.
“The difference is 11 of my 13 players play club volleyball and that gives us an advantage of where we go with the volleyball program at College Heights,” said Wong.
“The boys are finding their rhythm and basically I want this to be their year. I can push them a little more because of their technical skills. While others are (teaching) fundamentals I can push that envelope a little more and teach them more.
“We’ve been working hard on passing and transitions and that is an important component in every sport, whether it’s hockey, volleyball or basketball,” he said.
“During tough games like this they learn to work through it mentally.
“The mental game, especially in volleyball, is 80 per cent. Everybody has the skills, it’s the mental game that wins those championships and I’m happy with them.”
The Trojans were at their best in the second set, taking advantage of crisp passing, well-positioned sets and smart decisions at the net to tie the match. Holden Black and Desmond Doerksen turned up the heat with their serves and tournament all-star Jon Anderson set the example for the Trojan defence, even utilizing his foot to keep one play alive.
The Trojans had one point taken away from them for a serve rotation violation when the teams changed sides at the midway point of the third set.
“They fought really hard and played well in the second set and we got some good passes up and we were executing really well,” said Trojans co-coach Collin Appleby.
“That rotation call in the third set kind of messed us up a bit but they played a great game, noth- ing to be ashamed about. College Heights played great.”
The Trojans lost in straight sets to the Cougars in the round-robin, after beating them the previous week in the semifinal of the Duchess Park tournament, which the Trojans went on to win.
“We’re the two teams that are up there at the top and they’re our rivals and I’m ready to play them again, it’s going to be fun,” said Black, the 15-year-old Trojans captain.
– At the Jon Bragg Memorial senior boys tournament at College Heights secondary school, the Duchess Park Condors defeated the host College Heights Cougars 26-24, 25-18 in Saturday’s final.
The Condors are ranked No. 2 in the province among double-A boys teams.