Vernon Christian School Royals were a win away Saturday from playing for an Okanagan Valley volleyball championship on their home court.
The host Royals went 2-1 Friday at the Okanagan A Championships, which was good to earn a semifinal berth Saturday afternoon.
Chris Bannick’s squad capped the preliminary round Saturday morning against the Kamloops Christian Eagles.
The Royals, the North Zone’s No. 1 seed and ranked eighth in the province, opened the Valley finals by beating Lumby’s Charles Bloom TimberWolves 25-17, 25-18.
Jacob Molitwenik led the attack with 10 kills in 17 attempts. Aaron Botterill dished up six serves in a row to win the first set, and Noah Podolski was clutch serving seven serves in a row in the second frame with a pair of aces. Ethan Jameson made two solo blocks on defence.
The Royals kept rolling by defeating St. Ann’s Crusaders from Kamloops 25-14, 25-20.
Molitwenik again led the attack for the Royals while setter and younger brother, Ben Molitwenik, led the team with 18 assists.
VCS’ first loss came at the hands of No. 4 provincially ranked Kelowna Christian Knights, who dispatched the Royals 25-18, 25-20.
Josh Chirkoff played well at middle with a solo block and a kill while Kaden Koshman also chipped in with two block assists and 10 assists from the setter position.
Kody Kongsdorf also made several key digs as libero.
The tournament will decide two berths for the provincial A championships in Terrace, Nov. 24-26.