Three Subzero teams hit the ground running over the weekend in Abbotsford.
Competing at the Volleyball B.C. Provincial Championships - their only tournament of the season - three Yukon club teams jumped right into the thick of things at one of the biggest tournaments in Canada.
“We struggled at the beginning and I think that has to do with the lack of experience because we don’t play any tournaments up to this,” said Subzero IceCaps coach D’Arcy Hill. “We play one tournament a year, so that kind of hurts us going in because we’re just getting our bearings.”
All three Subzero teams posted wins at the championships.
The IceCaps won two to place 14th out of 16 teams in Division 1 for U16 boys. The Subzero squad went 1-2 in the round robin with a two-set win over Burnaby’s Focus Impact, who went on to place 10th. But they then lost to Focus Impact in the Division 1 Tier 2 playoff.
The IceCaps went on to defeat East Vancouver’s Apex Prime 25-20, 13-25, 15-11 before dropping the 13th place game 25-18, 19-25, 15-9 to Abbotsford’s Orangemen.
“Our setter, Morgan Schmidt, had a really good tournament. He basically controlled the floor and was an extreme asset in setting and blocking,” said Hill. “Our middle, Anshil Kumar, provided a lot of the offence and had a really good tournament hitting and blocking.”
Subzero Frostbite had a long weekend in Abbotsford. The U15 boys team played seven matches, four of which went to three sets.
“The boys aren’t used to playing seven games of high-calibre tournament in two days,” said Frostbite coach Nathan Bingham. “So they were pretty tired after that.
“They were a little taken back at first, playing against top club teams from the province. They were a little like deer in the headlights. It took them a while to find their rhythm and play as team. They adapted and got a little better every game.”
The Frostbite squad finished with a pair of wins to place 15th out of 17 teams and third in Division 2.
They capped the tournament beating Vancouver’s Apex Green 25-15, 20-25, 15-10 and downed Richmond’s Air Attack Gold with a come-from-behind score of 24-26, 25-18, 15-7 for 15th.
For the last two matches Frostbite coaches held a contest for their team to see which player would post the best serving percentage. Captain Adrian Robinson finished on top.
“Throughout the tournament our boys were serving very well, and it continued into the games that we won,” said Bingham. “We had one game when we were down 24-18 and Lukas Kobler went back and served six tough serves in a row - some of them aces. It’s something we’ve been working on all season.”
Subzero Frost finished with a win to place 15th out of 16 teams in Division 3 for U15 girls.
Frost went 0-3 in the round robin, lost 2-1 to Alberni Airborne in their first playoff game and 2-0 to Mariners from Nanaimo in their second. They finished with a 25-21, 25-19 win over the Kelowna Kash.
“It was great to have three teams down there because it seemed like every match was a home match because the other teams would go and watch each other,” said Hill. “It was good
team spirit.”
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com