Win and you get to play your rival.
That was the scenario facing the Seaton Sonics and host Vernon Panthers at the B.C. High School Senior Girls AAA Volleyball Championships at the Panther Pit Friday, Nov. 28.
Both teams started play Friday morning in the Round of 16. Vernon and Seaton were in the same part of the tournament’s championship bracket, meaning win Friday morning and they’d face each other for the first time since Nov. 15. That’s when the then-11th seeded Sonics swept the sixth-ranked Panthers at VSS for the Valley title.
Seaton tamed Richmond’s R.A. McMath Wildcats in straight sets, 25-21, 25-22, 25-22, Friday morning at VSS.
Right beside them, the host Panthers, who won their round-robin pool, dispatched the MEI Eagles of Abbotsford 25-7, 25-18, 25-10.
Rematch set.
Before a large, partisan VSS crowd Friday, the Panthers exacted their revenge on their cross-town nemesis, doing to the Sonics what Seaton did to them, sweeping to victory, 25-17, 25-19, 25-22.
The Panthers now draw the tournament’s top seed, the Point Grey Greyhounds of Vancouver, in a Saturday morning semifinal at 10 a.m. at the Panther Pit.
The other quarterfinals were played at Fulton and Kalamalka secondaries, with Surrey’s Holy Cross Crusaders taking on the College Heights Cougars of Prince George, and the Notre Dame Jugglers facing the Crofton House Falcons in an all-Vancouver match.
The Okanagan’s three squads in the 16-team field all advanced to the quarterfinals. The 11th-ranked Valleyview Vikings of Kamloops, who won their round-robin pool, knocked out the York House Tigers of Vancouver 25-21, 25-19, 25-23 to advance to the Elite Eight, where their tournament ended Friday with a loss to Point Grey.
The Sonics can finish no higher than fifth. They will play Valleyview at 8:30 a.m. at Kalamalka Secondary.
The provincial semifinals go at 10 a.m. Saturday at VSS, followed by the bronze-medal game at 1:30 p.m., and the title game at 3 p.m.
SENIOR BOYS A
Vernon Christian School Royals, the second seeds, took on the seventh-ranked Unity Christian Flames of Chilliwack in the quarterfinals in Abbotsford late Friday afternoon.
The Royals won their preliminary round pool, and advanced out of the Round of 16 Friday morning with a 25-20, 25-19, 25-16 win over the 15th-ranked Duncan Christian Chargers.