Two Vernon teams returned home with hardware from their respective high school volleyball championships.
The Vernon Panthers won bronze at the B.C. Senior Girls AAA event, which they hosted at the Panther Pit, and the Vernon Christian Royals bounced back from a heartbreaking semifinal loss to their league rivals to place third at the B.C. Senior Boys A finals in Abbotsford.
The Okanagan champion Seaton Sonics placed sixth in Vernon.
SENIOR GIRLS AAA
The sixth-ranked Panthers won their round-robin pool on opening day Thursday, Nov. 27, and began the Round of 16 Friday, Nov. 28, with a 25-7, 25-18, 25-10 win over the MEI Eagles of Abbotsford, setting up an Okanagan Valleys finals rematch with the Sonics in the Elite Eight quarterfinals.
VSS got their revenge on No. 4-seeded Seaton, scoring a 3-0 win by scores of 25-17, 25-19, 25-22. The Sonics began the Round of 16 with a 25-21, 25-22, 25-22 victory over the McMath Wildcats of Richmond.
The Panthers advanced to the Final Four, where they faced the top-ranked Point Grey Greyhounds of Vancouver in a Saturday morning semifinal Nov. 29. The Greyhounds swept VSS, 25-19, 25-20, 25-19 to advance to the championship game against the second-ranked Holy Cross Crusaders of Surrey.
The Crusaders swept the third-ranked Crofton House Falcons of Vancouver 25-22, 29-27, 25-15, in the other semifinal.
VSS defeated Crofton House for bronze, 25-22, 21-25,15-13.
The Crusaders swept Point Grey for gold by scores of 25-22, 25-22, 25-20.
Seaton started the consolation round with a 25-23, 25-18 win over the Okanagan’s third entry in the provincials, the Valleyview Vikings of Kamloops.
In the battle for fifth place, Seaton lost 2-1 to the Notre Dame Jugglers of Vancouver, 16-25, 25-23, 15-7.
The Sonics also won bronze at the 2024 provincials.
Carys Scott of the Sonics was named to the tournament’s first all-star team.
Deelah Arnold and teammate Hayden Molitwenik of VSS were selected to the second all-star squad.
Alyssia Palma of Holy Cross was the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. Top libero was Nadia Lennox of the College Heights Cougars of Prince George.
SENIOR BOYS A
The second-seeded Vernon Christian School Royals bounced back from a crushing five-set semifinal defeat to win hardware in Abbotsford.
The Royals, who won the Power Pool on opening day Thursday, kicked off the Round of 16 Friday morning, with a 25-20, 25-19, 25-16 win over the Duncan Christian Chargers. Chris Bannick and Jesse Zuidhof’s charges followed that up with a four-set quarterfinal victory over the Unity Christian Flames of Chilliwack, 17-25, 25-22, 25-20, 25-18.
That set up a second Okanagan Valley championship rematch with the Kelowna Christian Knights, the team the Royals defeated two weeks prior in five sets to capture the Valley title.
The Knights beat VCS in the Power Pool on opening day, 2-1, scores of 22-25, 25-19, 15-12, then won the Saturday semifinal in five sets, 25-16, 18-25, 25-16, 20-25, 15-12.
The Royals recovered from the loss to sweep the Lions Gate Christian Academy Lions of North Vancouver 25-23, 25-17, in the bronze-medal game.
Kelowna Christian won the provincial title, knocking off the top-seeded host team, St. John Brebeuf Bears, 25-20, 20-25, 25-23, 25-15.