Brave Camosun misses out on volleyball gold

The Camosun Chargers’ magical run at the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association women’s volleyball championship ran out of steam at PISE gym on Saturday night.

In front of a packed crowd, the Chargers fell 3-1 (25-20, 25-20, 17-25, 26-24) to the Lakeland College Rustlers of Vermilion, Alta. Both were looking for their first national championship — unfortunately, there was only one slipper on this Cinderella-type night.

The Rustlers rode off with the national bragging rights, much to the chagrin of the partisan Chargers crowd that lined the stairwell at PISE trying to make its way in for the final game, which started a half-hour late.

Lakeland rebounded from a late four-point deficit to take the pivotal fourth set.

Lakeland was seeded No. 4 in the eight-team tournament, while the host Chargers were No. 7 in the upset-laden event.

“It was [a magical run], things were really coming together for us at the right time, right to the bitter end,” Chargers coach Chris Dahl said. “We had tagged March 9-11 as the important dates and, boy, we put together some great volleyball in these three days. It’s a reflection of athletes believing, first and foremost, and then going out and executing.” Dahl’s group saluted the crowd afterward.

Camosun won bronze at the 2015 nationals and Lakeland claimed silver at the 2013 event.

In the 2017 bronze-medal match, the No. 1 Vancouver Island Mariners rebounded from an opening set 22-25 loss to the Grande Prairie Wolves to win the next three 25-18, 25-20, 25-11 for a 3-1 win. Earlier, the Mariners had to defeat the Lynx d'EdouardMontpetit of Quebec 3-0 to advance to the third-place match.

“This tournament hasn’t been our best, but we came out and finished strong in our last match so we’re happy with getting a medal. It’s not the colour we wanted, but we’ll take it,” VIU head coach Shane Hyde said.

The Mariners did well to rebound after a semi-final loss to Lakeland on Friday.

“It’s the toughest medal in all of sport, to win a bronze, because you have less than 24 hours to play two matches while you’re mentally, emotionally and physically fatigued. It’s hard to win and our girls did great,” Hyde said.

In men’s play, neither the Camosun Chargers nor VIU Mariners qualified for the bronzemedal match, swept by the Fanshawe Falcons and the Medicine Hat Rattlers in London, Ont.