The Vernon Christian School Royals senior boys registered their best-ever finish at the annual Best of the West Volleyball Tournament in Kelowna.
The Royals tied for fifth in a field of 32 after reaching the quarterfinals Saturday, where they bowed 2-1 (19-25, 28-26, 15-11) to the College Heights Cougars of Prince George.
Jacob Defeo led a balanced attack with set distributions, while middles Liam Remple and Braeden McAmmond were solid blocking and serving. Libero Shaun Huizinga provided smooth passing from serve receive in the back court.
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Vernon swept the Pen-Hi Lakers 2-0 (26-24, 25-21) in their final match, erasing a 14-6 deficit in the first set but storming back after the time-out, led by Ben Molitwenik, Noah Podolski and Remple. Levi VanderDeen recorded some clutch kills from the right side in the first set and left side Josh Hall hit a couple of key kills down the line.
“Even though we had a slow start to our game, we came on stronger and stronger as the tournament went on,” said co-coach Dwayne Remple, helped by Chris Bannick. “We beat some top AAA and AA ranked teams and many schools took notice of our school. We need to continue working on our blocking and focus on serving aggressively to take our game to the next level.”
The Royals came out flat in pool play, losing their first match losing 2-1 (24-26, 25-14, 11-15) to Kelly Road Roadrunners of Prince George, but bounced back in a big way by defeating Okanagan Mission Huskies of Kelowna 2-1 (19-25, 25-23, 15-4), and Bellerose Composite 2-0 (25-20, 25-13).
There was a three way tie for first but the Royals placed 1st due to point deferential. In the playoff round the Royals played a solid defensive game, combined with aggressive serving to defeat Holy Trinity Titans from Red Deer, 25-22, 19-25, 15-12.
Remple rang up six kills and three solo blocks, while Molitwenik added four kills. Returning to the court after a recent foot injury, Podolski was strong from the service line and blocked well from the right side.
Next competition for the Royals is the B.C. Christian Schools championship, Oct. 18-20, in Abbotsford.
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