The Fraser Valley Volleyball Club U-14 boys travelled to Richmond Feb. 19-20 to take on the big boys at the Air Attack Invitational tournament at McRoberts secondary school. As the only underage team in the U-15/U-16 tournament, the Fraser Valley team took to the court as the underdog in every match they played.
Despite playing on a net higher than they were used to and facing athletes taller, faster and stronger, this group of resilient young men finished a very respectable seventh out of 12 teams.
FVVC finished with a 2-4 record and only one straight-sets loss in the entire tournament. With more than half the team competing in basketball playoffs on Saturday morning, coach Duncan Harrison asked two 12 year olds from the U-13 FVVC boys team to play up for a couple of matches.
“Both Kaden Gamache (Abbotsford) and Linden Bontkes (Langley) did a great job for our team,” he said. “It’s a big step to be 12 years old and be competing against 14 and 15 year old boys. I was really impressed with their compete level.”
The boys lost both pool games, first to the host Air Attack U-16’s (25-22, 12-25, 11-15) and then to Coquitlam’s Focus U-16’s (23-25, 21-25).
In the first round of the playoffs the Valley team found themselves head to head with the FVVC U-15’s. In a very tight match the younger team prevailed in three sets by scores of 25-23, 11-25, 16-14. The boys moved on to the quarter-finals and a three set loss (24-26, 25-16, 8-15) to the U-15 Surrey Eagles.
Relegated to the consolation bracket, FVVC played two close matches on Sunday, losing to the Air Attack (25-21, 22-25, 5-15) and beating North Vancouver’s BCO (25-23, 24-26, 15-12).
Team captain Jordan Loewen (Abbotsford) led the offense with 19 kills while Steven Hsu (Langley) had 14 kills and Keaton Boughen (Abbotsford) added 10.
Hsu led the defense with 30 digs while Chilliwack’s Curtis Schopf (G.W. Graham) had 12 digs and four stuff blocks. Abbotsford’s Jordy Koslowsky had 12 digs and Surrey Christian’s Josiah Mooy had a balanced weekend with six kills, six service aces, 10 digs and five stuff blocks.