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Juggernaut — a huge, powerful and overwhelming force.
The Kelowna Owls lived up to the cliche moniker at their own Best of the West volleyball tournament in extraordinary fashion on the weekend by winning all seven matches and 14 consecutive sets on the way to the senior girls' title.
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The defending B.C. School Sports Quad-A champions, coming off a third-place finish a week earlier at the UBC Okanagan Heat Classic, served notice they are still the team to beat in the province as they cruised to first place among 32 challengers on home court and maintained their perch atop the B.C. rankings.
A convincing 2-0 (25-10, 25-13) victory over the MEI Eagles of Abbotsford (No. 1 - AA) capped the dominating two-day performance that saw the Owls allow more than 20 points in a set just once (against Mt. Baker in pool play).
“We had a few jitters on Friday playing in front of bleachers full of friends,” said Kelowna Secondary School head coach Kelly Hettinga, almost apologetically. “But as the games went on we gained focus and became much more effective.”
By the time the Owls reached the final, they were connecting in all facets of the game and registered a season-high combination of 39 kills and service aces against an outmatched MEI squad.
KSS earned a berth in the crowning match by handling Duchess Park of Prince George (No. 5 - AAA) 25-15, 25-16 while they earlier downed cross-town-rival George Elliot Coyotes 25-10, 25-19 in quarter-final play.. The Owls had opened playoff action by spiking Oscar Romero of Edmonton 25-9, 25-5 after winning three power-pool matches in straight sets over Earl Marriott of Surrey, Burnaby Central and Mt. Baker.
Coach Hettinga considered the triumph over George Elliot the most difficult and satisfying of the seven, especially after the Coyotes had upset his Owls in semifinal play at UBCO.
“We really wanted another opportunity to play them after that loss and we talked about it throughout the week that even though we needed to be physically prepared, we also wanted to be mentally ready,” said Hettinga.
Both areas were tested against a game Coyotes team playing, without their all-star setter Sheena Macfarlane, out with soft tissue damage in her arm. GESS led 17-13 in the first set before the Owls responded with a long run of serving points. A similar scenario materialized in the clinching second set.
Coyotes’ head coach, Doug Meraw, said his No. 2-ranked (AA) team welcomed the challenge of playing the Black and Gold and hopes for another matchup this season.
“They’re the consensus top team overall in the province so we did very well considering we’re still sorting out our lineup without Sheena. We’re getting close and look forward to playing them again in the city championship.”
Elliot, host to its own Coyote Classic this weekend, got off to a slow start with a new-look roster, losing two of their three pool matches. Those included a 20-25, 23-25 decision to provincially No. 1-ranked (AA) Pacific Academy Breakers of Surrey and No. 4 (AA) McRoberts Strikers of Richmond (No. 4 - AAA).
A 28-26, 25-22 win over unranked West Point Grey in the first round of the playoffs earned the Coyotes their meeting with KSS, and after the loss to the Owls, they closed out with a 2-1 (11-25, 25-19, 15-10) victory over No. 1 (A) Kelowna Christian School Knights.
Coach Meraw said he was pleased with his team’s play overall despite pedestrian results on the weekend that dropped the Coyotes from No. 2 to No. 4 in the provincial rankings.
“Making adjustments due to injuries is a part of sports and it takes time,” he said. “Our players have shown excellent mental toughness while switching positions. Mistakes will be made because of the unfamiliarity but they’re rising to the challenge.”
The veteran mentor believes the GESS passing and defence are in the top tier in the province.
“However, we will still need to get better in both areas. As in most sports, defence wins championships. That will be our focus, but serving tough and improving our offence can’t be forgotten either.”
Going into the Coyote Classic this weekend, the Coyotes will again be counting on Tessa Ivans, Jasanna Kunz and Chloe Ladd to provide the leadership while Georgia Maclean is quickly becoming one of the dominant middle players in the province. Meraw noted that middle Lily Spannier showed “great improvement” on the weekend as well.
Meanwhile, the Owls will take the weekend off before competing in the Big Red Serge Invitational in Coquitlam next week. Coach Hettinga is hoping Hannah Greene will have enough time to heal. She played through injury at the BOTW and paid the price with a pulled quadricep.
Greene, along with teammates Sophie Lachapelle, Anya Pemberson and Madelyn Hettinga (who missed the UBCO tournament due to an ankle injury) were selected to the BOTW all-star team
While coach Hettinga conceded there might have been some hometown bias in the selections, he still felt his setter, Amelia Anderson, deserved consideration, especially after assisting on 29 kills in the final two sets of the weekend.
Looking ahead to the final six weeks of the season, Hettinga says the key areas he’s looking at for improvement will be in serve receive and increasing the tempo of the Owls’ attack.
“We’ll be seeing harder-serving teams going forward, so that will be a focus for sure,” said Hettinga, whose team has four returnees from last season’s championship team and boasts a 28-4 record in matches and 60-13 in sets. “And we need to keep in mind that teams are looking at all the angles they can to try to upset us, much like we did going into the Provincials against Belmont (ranked No. 1) last year. This means training in anticipation of how other teams will try to take advantage of our weaknesses.”
Single-A Vernon Christian Royals pull off upset in boys' tournament
The top triple-A and double-A teams in the province were upstaged by the single-A Vernon Christian School Royals on the boys’ side of the Best of the West volleyball tournament on the weekend at Kelowna Secondary School.
By upsetting the No. 1-ranked (AA) MEI Eagles of Abbotsford 25-20, 25-21 in the championship match, the Royals became the first A team to win the event — this year featuring 24 of the top squads in the province.
Ranked No. 1 provincially in the A division, the Royals also defeated the host Kelowna Owls (No. 2 - AAA) in semifinal play 25-20, 25-17 despite having to contend with a mature and gritty KSS team and a large boisterous hometown crowd in the Owls’ Nest.
“We were very happy with our performance overall,” said Owls’ head coach Mike Sodaro. “We’re getting more consistent with passing and game play, but we definitely have room for improvement. Our match against VCS showed that. They’re a big, strong and consistent team that serves extremely tough and keeps the pressure on.”
Inconsistency highlighted the play of the Owls who fell 2-1 to the No. 1-ranked (AAA) Earl Marriott Mariners of Surrey (No 1- AAA) in power-pool play while defeating College Heights (No. 4- AA) and Calgary Christian in two straight sets.
The Owls got by Central Okanagan-rival Mt. Boucherie Bears (No. 4 - AAA) in the first round of the playoffs (25-21, 20-25, 15-10) and came from behind to defeat the No. 3 - AA George Elliot Coyotes 25-23, 25-23 in the quarter-finals, but couldn’t stop the Royals’ tide in the semis.
The hosts fell for a third time this season to Earl Marriott, dropping a 20-25, 25-21, 12-15 decision in the bronze-medal match on Saturday.
KSS Setter Braden White earned a tournament all-star team berth while middles Tyson Embree and Max McDonald stood tall at the net for the Owls and appear poised to be leaders for the Black and Gold going into the second half of what is expected to be a provincial championship-contending season.
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