Wildcats serve up trouble for Cedars
Aaron Spurge was a human piledriver for the Mount Sentinel Wildcats Saturday afternoon on the single-A provincial boys volleyball court. He laid down a foundation the Cedars Christian Eagles were unable to topple.
Spurge, the Sentinels’ Grade 10 power hitter, unleashed a devastating jump serve that tore holes in the Cedars defence. He reeled off a pair of aces and rocked the Eagles’ world as the instigator of an 11-point run that gave the Kootenay zone champions a 16-3 lead in the opening set. They went on to win 25-7 and wrapped up the best-of-three battle for fifth place with a 25-22 triumph in the second set.
“It was a tough one – we’ve played serves like that before but had a hard time getting that one up. It was tough to lose on that one,” said Eagles Grade 12 power hitter Joel Nelson.
“They played really good defence on us.”
Spurge and middle blocker Kyle Kabatoff were strong at the net but there weren’t a lot of big hits that turned it in their favour. The Sentinels’ reactive defence and smart tips and sets to unguarded areas proved the difference. The Eagles made a game of it in the second set but were foiled by too many unforced errors, muffed serves and an inability to put the ball down often enough to gain any momentum.
“I guess we just started off on the wrong foot – just some guys were tired, we’ve played all weekend and it’s been tiring,” said Eagles Grade 12 libero Aidan Ceasar. “I think it was actually better for us to play at home with all the support from friends and family and the school. We got used to the pressure and it was great to have all that support.”
Wildcats head coach Glen Campbell said there was no stopping his team from South Slocan once Spurge found his rhythm behind the serving line.
“When he’s on, that is a very tough serve to try to pass,” said Campbell. “He got red-hot and it totally lifts the whole team and unfortunately it tends to deflate the other team. We won out today and it’s always nice to win your last match. We feel good about ourselves. All my guys are Grade 10s and 11s so they’ll all be back next year.”
In the gold-medal match Saturday, the Vernon Christian Royals pounded out a 3-0 (25-17, 25-16, 25-16) decision over the Credo Christian Sabres of Langley. The Centennial Christian Seahawks of Terrace, the tournament’s top seed, beat the Kelowna Christian Knights 3-0 (25-15, 25-14, 25-15) for bronze.
The Eagles finished sixth in the 16-team tournament, improving three spots on their No. 9 ranking going into the three-day event at the College of New Caledonia. They pulled off a minor upset in their morning playoff against the St. Andrews Sabres, beating the No. 6 Victoria team 2-1 (25-23, 20-25, 15-13) to advance to the fifth-place match, while Mt. Sentinel edged fourth-ranked Bulkley Valley of Smithers 2-1 (25-21, 19-25, 15-13).
Playing in front of a hometown crowd at CNC, the Eagles lost their first three matches but won their last two round-robin games to make it into the playoffs. In the quarterfinals Friday night they lost 3-0 (25-20, 25-16, 25-18) to Credo Christian, the defending B.C. champions from Langley.
For Eagles head coach Roland Rempel, who took over the senior boys team after three seasons at the helm with the Cedars senior girls, getting to the fifth-place playoff was gravy considering their ranking.
“I couldn’t be more proud of them, we battled hard and we were known as a team that played great defence and we were hard to play against,” said Rempel. “To be top-half in this provincial tournament, that’s a great finish for us. We’re not a top-three team but four, five or six, we can play there. We have a young team with four Grade 11 or 10 starters so we’re looking at coming back to this tournament next year for sure.”
Rempel admitted his team could not recover from the damage Spurge caused.
The Eagles made a game of it in the second set but were foiled by too many unforced errors...
“I think he served (11) before he finally missed – most jump-servers don’t last that long,” said Rempel. “Hats off to Mount Sentinel. In that first set their defence was untouchable. They were digging everything, one-hand, two-hands, they could do no wrong in that first set. They were the better team for sure.”
• The College Heights Cougars placed fifth at the 24-team junior boys provincial championship Saturday in Kamloops. The Cougars went 3-0 in pool play, beating Richmond Christian, Fraser Heights and Sa-Hali. After being eliminated from title contention with a quarterfinal loss to Langley Christian the Cougars defeated Abbotsford Christian and Kelowna Secondary in the playoff round Saturday.
The Duchess Park Condors, ranked 16th going in, went 2-1 in pool play. They beat Mount Boucherie and Elgin Park and lost to Pacific Christian. The Condors won playoff games over Hugh McRoberts and Sa-Hali and lost the 13th-place game to Mount Boucherie and placed 14th.
The Cedars Christian Eagles defeated Norkam in their final game and placed 23rd.
MEI beat Pacific Academy in the championship match, while Langley Christian topped Pacific Christian for bronze.