锘縏alent was never a question for the 91原创 Fundamental Titans.
Head coach Matt Lewis knew his team had skill 鈥� two years, the core of his squad captured the B.C. junior boys provincial title.
What concerned him was his senior boys鈥� volleyball team鈥檚 performance at last season鈥檚 provincial championships where the team played as a bunch of individuals and wound up finishing seventh.
But it was lesson learned as the Titans won the first-ever B.C. senior boys AA provincial title in the program鈥檚 history on Saturday at the UBC-Okanagan campus in Kelowna.
鈥淭hey set each other up so they would be able to utilize their strengths,鈥� Lewis said.
鈥淚 am just so proud of them; they did great.鈥�
The Titans went 2-1 in pool play at the tournament on the first day, defeating the 91原创 Christian Lightning and the MEI Eagles, but falling to Okanagan-Mission.
Seeded second in the pool for the playoff round, the Titans won in straight sets over George Elliott and College Heights to advance to the semifinals.
The Titans then won 3-1 (25-22,25-17,22-25,34-32) over MEI in the semifinals and defeated the Lightning 3-0 (25-21,25-18,25-23) to lay claim to the provincial crown.
鈥淭his year, we came together as a team and played with each other instead of just a one-man show,鈥� said power hitter Carson Heppell, who earned the tournament鈥檚 most outstanding player award. 
鈥淚t means everything to win,鈥� added Tristan Loewen, who picked up the most outstanding libero award. 鈥淚t is the first one in school history, so it is pretty special.鈥�
Loewen said the players were disappointed in last year鈥檚 showing at provincials.
鈥淲e were just disappointed in ourselves because we knew we were better than that,鈥� he explained.
鈥淲e just fell apart and didn鈥檛 get the outcome we wanted. We just had to push harder.鈥�
Five of the team鈥檚 seven starters are in Grade 12 so Loewen said the players wanted to leave it all on the floor in their final high school game.
Lewis admitted he was nervous going into the semifinals.
MEI has been the team鈥檚 chief rival all season long, winning their first three head-to-head matches. The Titans finally broke through two weeks ago in the Fraser Valley final when they beat the Eagles for the first time.
But in that game, MEI was missing one of their best players to injury and he was back for provincials and Lewis was concerned this might affect his team mentally.
鈥淏ut they pulled through and played great,鈥� the coach said.
In addition to Heppell鈥檚 and Loewen鈥檚 awards, Denham O鈥橰eilly and Michael Hsu earned first team all-stars and Steven Hsu was a second team all-star.
