Eagles improve with age on provincial court
In the arid land where the Vernon Christian Royals make their home, low-lying vineyards and scrub brush are common features.
Tall trees are a rarity.
The Royals are an exception to the rule. There’s no team taller among the 16 entered in this week’s provincial single-A boys volleyball championship and the Royals took advantage of the long shadows they cast at the net on Day 1 of the three-day tournament Thursday at the College of New Caledonia.
They came in seeded No. 2 in the province and asserted their ranking in an afternoon match against the host Cedars Christian Eagles, winning in straight sets, 25-10, 2725 to improve to 2-0.
They might be short on experience at the senior level, with just two Grade 12 players, but physically the Royals are ideal specimens for volleyball with the likes of six-foot-seven middle blocker Devin Hofsink, six-foot-six power hitter Liam Remple, six-foot-five middle Josh Hall and six-foot-four power Noah Podolski. Even in the Vernon Christian back court none with the exception of libero Shaun Huizinga is shorter than six-foot-two.
“I’d say our height is one of our biggest advantages but probably more important we’ve got a lot of talent when it comes to hitting,” said Royals head coach Dwayne Remple, whose team opened with a win over Unity Christian of Chilliwack 25-9, 27-25.
“Our downfall is our defence because our guys are so big, they’re not used to having to dig balls. We seemed to have a bit of the blues in that second set but we’ll straighten that out.”
The long-reaching Royals made it difficult for the No. 9-ranked Eagles to hit over the block, but Cedars did a much better job finding the holes in the second set. Their passes were a lot more accurate and the offence sparked to life. A couple times it looked like the Eagles might push it to a third and deciding set, but they were derailed by a couple of wayward spikes and a net serve. The match ended when a high set on the Eagles side of the court hit the basketball hoop hanging a bit too low from the ceiling.
“We played a lot better in the second set than we did in the first set but we sort of messed up at the end,” said Eagles Grade 11 power hitter Lucas Crosina. “It was pretty hard to hear but we talked better in that match and we were pretty positive than in the first match, when we were pretty negative.”
The Eagles seemed to get better as the match went on, after a nervous opening in their morning match against No. 4 Bulkley Valley of Smithers. The Eagles lost that match 25-16, 26-24 and Crosina said they weren’t ready for it and didn’t come close to their own capabilities.
“We panicked,” he said. “Most of our school came to watch the game and I guess that just got us nervous because we played really poorly in that game.”
Eagles head coach Roland Rempel said his team appeared much more relaxed in the Vernon game and expects to see more of the same when they return to the court today at 8 a.m. against No. 6 St. Andrews of Victoria.
“I’m really happy with how the boys came out in the second (match),” said Rempel. “Vernon is a very good team, and we played them tough. For a young team we did quite well. They’re the tallest team here and they hit hard and hit big and I thought we blocked them well and shut down some hitters. That made them make some unforced errors and kept us in the game.”
“Hopefully we can carry over with the confidence and good play we showed in that last match and if we do that there should be some good matches.”
Prince George is home to four of the top 12 double-A teams in B.C. Having that kind of competition close by has helped speed the development of a young Eagles squad that has three Grade 12s (Aiden Ceaser, Craig Hein, Joel Nelson), four Grade 11s (Crosina, Joshua Leboe, Karl Kibonge, Caleb Milton) and one Grade 10 player (Cole Willmann).
“We love playing Duchess, D.P. Todd, Kelly Road and College Heights,” said Rempel. “When we play those teams they always make us a little better because they’re usually a little taller, a little deeper with skill, so us playing them all year is definitely to our benefit. We did give them some tough matches when we saw them in tournament play.”
Cedars also plays No. 11 Fernie at 11:30 a.m. today and will wrap up round-robin play against No. 8 Unity Christian starting at 4:10 p.m.
Centennial Christian of Terrace is ranked No. 1. The Seahawks won their opener over Chetwynd 25-16, 25-11.
Playoffs start Saturday at 8 a.m. with semifinals at 9:10 a.m. The bronze medal match is scheduled for 4 p.m. Saturday followed by the championship match at 6.