Seaton Sonics beat the Vernon Panthers 3-1 in the all-vernon final of the Okanagan Valley Senior AAA Girls Volleyball Championships Saturday afternoon at Seaton gym.
Both teams advance to the B.C. championships Nov. 29 to Dec. 1 in Powell River.
“Our team played very steady and confident,” said Sonics head coach Troy Lorenson. “With three Grade 11 players on the court for the key matches, including our setter, they showed a lot of maturity. It was very special to have our seniors win Valleys on their home court in front of their fans and parents. Both teams have played each other close all season, and there was tremendous respect show for one another.”
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The two Vernon schools shrugged off Saturday defeats to the two Kamloops schools to advance to the championship.
The Sonics were 2-1 after the preliminary round, suffering their only loss at the hands of the unbeaten South Kamloops Titans, 25-22, 19-25, 15-11. Seaton beat VSS 25-23, 26-28, 15-13 and dispatched the Valleyview Vikings 25-8, 25-12.
Vernon went 0-3 in the preliminary round, losing 28-26 and 25-12 to South Kam, and 26-24, 25-20, 15-10 to the Vikings.
The Panthers stunned the Titans in the Saturday morning semifinal, while Seaton took care of Valleyview.
“We regrouped Saturday and we talked about it in the morning, and the girls had their minds set they were going to win the semifinal against South Kamloops, and we did, said Panthers head coach Keith Becker. “They got stronger and stronger. The girls dominated. From there, we went into the game against Seaton knowing we wanted to get everybody onto the court for a bit when we already knew we had a (provincial) berth. It wasn’t a high-pressure match against Seaton but we wanted to give them good competition and they did that.”
Marika Ternan, Gabby Triggs and Maisa Orosz were named to the tournament all-star team from Seaton, as were Panthers Kelsey Falk and Bree Vanderleest.
AA
The Kalamalka Lakers will take on the George Elliot Coyotes of Lake Country Tuesday night for the second Okanagan berth to the B.C. AA Senior Girls Volleyball Championships Nov. 29-Dec. 1 in Burnaby.
Maria Hansen’s Lakers lost the Valley final, 3-0, to the Sa-Hali Sabres of Kamloops who avenged a preliminary lound loss to Kal.
“Unfortunately because we did not play George Elliot (in the tournament), so they have the right to challenge us as they finished third,” said Hansen, whose team won their preliminary round pool, giving them a bye to the semifinals, where they dispatched the host Summerland Rockets in five games.
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The Coyotes fell to Sa-Hali in the other final-four match.
The Rockets defeated the Fulton Maroons in quarterfinal play. The Maroons were third in their round-robin pool.
Kal won their pool by beating Fulton 23-25, 25-10, 15-8, the Pleasant Valley Saints of Armstrong 25-22, 25-14 and the Sabres 25-22, 23-25, 15-13.
“That was a very intense and exciting match with neither team conceding a run of points,” said Hansen. “The biggest differential in any game was three points. It was back and forth throughout.”
roger@vernonmorningstar.com
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