Sub Zero froze up a pair of 11th-place finishes over the weekend.
Two U15 teams from the Yukon club ended with wins for 11th at the B.C. Provincial Volleyball Championships over the weekend in Abbotsford.
Sub Zero’s U15 boys team placed 11th in Division 1 and the U15 girls squad finished 11th in Division 3.
“They did great. They were playing the top teams and they were battling with them,” said Sub Zero boys head coach Nathan Bingham. “I spoke to some of the coaches and asked how many tournaments they had been in and it was common for them to have been in four or five club tournaments before going to the club provincials. Our guys train all season for that one tournament, so they did great.”
The Sub Zero boys went 2-5 at the championships, encountering some tough squads along the way.
They went winless in three matches in the round robin, losing to the Fraser Valley Volleyball Club, who went on to claimed silver.
Sub Zero fell in two sets to team Surrey’s Team Force in the Division 1 Tier 1 bracket. Force went on to claim gold.
The Yukon squad defeated Richmond’s Air Attack Black 25-11, 20-25, 17-15 in the Division 1 Tier 2 bracket, but then lost 25-21, 22-25, 15-5 to South Surrey-White Rock’s Seaside Surf, who went on to win the bracket for ninth place.
Sub Zero capped the championship with a 25-20, 15-25, 15-13 victory over the Surrey Eagles for 11th. Sub Zero lost to the Eagles in straight sets in the round-robin.
A few players really stepped up in Abbotsford, said Bingham. Middle Skyler Bryant “had some great hits,” said Bingham. “He was getting kills and boosting our team’s moral. One time he six-packed a guy, knocked him to the floor ... He was knocking players down. I didn’t see anyone else do that in the tournament.”
“Some refs and officials down there were complimenting Curtis Poirier on his technique in his setting. We have a player, Anshil Kumar, and he was playing really big for us in the middle.”
“Jordan Runions remained unintimidated against the larger and more elite clubs, and helped the team chemistry with his confidant demeanor on the court.”
With no prior club tournament under their belts this season, the Sub Zero girls team would have been designated into Division 4. However, tournament organizers invited the Sub Zero squad to play up in Division 3.
“I was really pleased,” said Sub Zero girls head coach Caroline Holway. “Four of our kids had played in one tournament before, some of them it was their first tournament, and all the other teams had played at least four tournaments this season. So I think the difference was experience.”
Sub Zero lost five straight before penciling a check into the win column in the 11/12 place match.
They downed North Vancouver’s Power West 25-16, 23-25, 15-8. Trailing 4-8 in the third set, Sub Zero’s Thea Carey served six aces in a row to put her team up. Carey was named her team’s MVP for the match.
“The team never looked back, finishing the tournament with a win,” said Holway.
Sub Zero opened with three losses in the round robin, two of which went to three sets and one of those was to Power West.
They dropped another three-setter to the Vernon Storm before a two-set match loss to North Vancouver’s Stars Red team.
Mia Kremer, Julia Frasher, Megan Prawdzik, Jayden Demchuk and Katelyn Holway all grabbed MVP nods for matches during the championships.
“This team had eight players representing the Yukon and all of them contributed to make it a successful weekend,” said Caroline.
The previous weekend the Sub Zero Blizzards pocketed five wins en route to third place out of 13 teams in U14 boys Division 2 at the B.C. championships.
They captured the bronze in a 16-25, 25-11, 15-12 win over Abbotsford’s OVC Lions.
Yukon was also represented by Sub Zero Ice and Sub Zero Frostbite in the U14 girls championship.
Sub Zero Ice secured one playoff win and placed 14th out of 16 teams in Division 3. Frostbite failed to get a win and dropped to 12th in Division 4.
“It was great to be at the same tournament as the girls U15 Sub Zero team,” added Bingham. “The two teams cheered each other on throughout the tournament. Other teams were also joining the spectator area to see the Yukon teams play. It created an exciting and positive environment for the players.”
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com