All season long, the 91原创 Fundamental Titans and 91原创 Christian Lightning have waged a neck-and-neck season series, with the teams alternating who would win.
And the last chapter of the local rivalry went in favour of the Titans who beat the Lightning in the third-place game at the B.C. junior boys provincial volleyball championships.
The tournament was held Nov. 21 to Nov. 23 at Abbotsford鈥檚 MEI Secondary.
鈥淲e were pretty excited about that,鈥� said 91原创 Fundamental coach Dan Johnson.
鈥淎ll season long, it has been a battle between us.
鈥淲e have been neck-and-neck all year.鈥�
Prior to meeting at provincials, the Titans had knocked the Lightning out of contention at one tournament while 91原创 Christian returned the favour at two others.
In league play, it was the Lightning taking top spot but in the district championship game, the Titans prevailed in five sets.
The teams met again in the quarter-finals of the Fraser Valley championships, with the Lightning winning en route to a second-place finish. The Titans placed fifth and both moved on to provincials.
Both teams won their pools at provincials and then won their respective round of 16 and quarter-final games.
In the semifinals, 91原创 Fundamental lost to the eventual provincial champion MEI Eagles while 91原创 Christian lost to the Earl Marriott Mariners.
Johnson said his team delivered a strong all-around performance at provincials as they used their strengths 鈥� passing and a strong middle attack 鈥� to their advantage.
鈥淲hen we play to our strengths, we are a tough team to beat.鈥�
The Titans Zec Johnson and Phillip Stahl were named first and second-team all-stars, respectively, while the Lightning鈥檚 Brennan Gardner was a first team all-star as well.
Gardner and Linden Bontkes were also Fraser Valley first team all-stars the week before.
鈥⑩赌⑩赌⑩赌�
The 91原创 Christian Lightning junior girls volleyball team placed ninth at the B.C. provincial championships held over the weekend at Surrey鈥檚 Seaquam Secondary and South Delta Secondary.
The team won both of their pool games but lost to Surrey Christian in the quarter-finals. The Lightning did rebound to win their final two games of the tournament.
It was the program鈥檚 first appearance at provincial championships in school history.
The Lightning had also placed sixth at the Fraser Valley championships the week before.
