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Thirty teams and plenty of spectators descended on Ben Lee Park for Kelowna’s first ever Spikeball tournament on Saturday.
It wasn’t just local teams competing for all the glory, as teams travelled from Washington State, Vancouver Island, the Lower Mainland and Alberta to take part.
Competitors showed up early and enjoyed some ice coffee from Cherry Hill Coffee while they warmed up for a long day of spiking in 30°C heat.
When the games got going at 10 am, the talent instantly shone through with some long rallies, impressive serves and miraculous saves.
After a fast-paced round robin portion of the tournament, the afternoon playoffs were set with 20 teams vying for the competitive division title and 10 others gunning for the intermediate division crown.
In the competitive division, the round robin’s two undefeated teams, West Coast Express from the Lower Mainland and Janitor’s Closet from Bellingham, cruised through to the semi-finals.
There, West Coast Express met Kraken, a tough team from Vancouver Island who had suffered their only loss of the day to West Coast Express a few hours earlier.
For the second time, West Coast Express earned a hard-fought victory against Kraken and earned a berth in the finals.
On the other side of the bracket, Janitor’s Closet was in tough against Spikey McSpikeface, an athletic duo from the North Okanagan, but managed to pull out a win.
Dozens of people stuck around the watch the final matchup, which was an impressive display of Spikeball.
Those fans witnessed West Coast Express, made up of Taylan Kornelsen and Adam Enns, deliver a two game to nothing victory to claim the first ever Kelowna Spikeball Tournament title.
In the intermediate division, the top two seeds made the finals as well.
It was a back and forth final with plenty of competitive points, but in the end it was Ruby O’s, made up of Ruby Ellis and Lester Lui, beating out Saved By The Ball for a well-deserved win.
To say it was a successful first year for the Kelowna Spikeball Tournament would be an understatement and the organizing team promises bigger and better things for year two.
You can join the Spikeball movement in Kelowna by following the tournament on Facebook or Instagram and downloading the Spikeball app to get notified when others are playing local games.
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