College Heights boys handed painful loss at provincials

It was a heartbreaker of epic proportions for the College Heights Cougars.

Down two sets to none in their semifinal against the George Elliot Coyotes of Lake Country Friday night at the double-A boys provincial volleyball championship in Langley, the Cougars rallied to win the next two sets to force a fifth and deciding set.

The third-seeded Cougars pushed it right to the end but lost 17-15. George Elliot won the first two sets 25-22, 25-16 and College Heights rebounded to win the next two 2624, 25-23.

“We played the best game of the entire season,” said Cougars head coach Linden Smith. “We fought and battled and left it all on the floor. There was nothing more we could have done.”

College Heights will play Langley Christian for the bronze medal today at noon.

The top-ranked Coyotes will face Abbotsford Christian in the gold-medal match. Abbotsford beat Langley Christian 3-1 (23-25, 27-25, 25-17, 25-20) in the other semifinal.

At the same tournament, the Kelly Road Roadrunners had their shot at playing in the fifth-place match dashed Friday when they lost 2-0 (27-25, 25-22) to Mennonite Educational Institute of Abbotsford. The Roadrunners can still finish seventh – their provincial ranking going into the tournament – if they defeat Surrey Christian in a best-of-three playoff today at 11:30 a.m.

• At the double-A girls championship in Burnaby, the MEI senior girls also had Kelly Road’s number. They defeated the Roadrunners 3-0 (25-6, 25-16, 25-15) in a quarterfinal playoff Friday.

Kelly Road went on to lose its second game of the day to Langley Christian 2-1 (21-25, 25-16, 15-12). The Roadrunners will take on Smithers for 13th place today at 9:30 a.m.

• At the single-A girls provincial championship Friday in Nanaimo, the Cedars Christian Eagles lost their consolation match Friday 2-0 (25-16, 25-21) to Hazelton. The Eagles also faced Bulkley Valley and Jules Verne. Scores from those matches were not posted on the tournament website. The best the Eagles could finish in the 20-team tournament was 17th.