McMath Wildcats senior volleyball teams survived a pair of five-set marathons Monday night to advance to their respective city championship matches.
The Steveston school earned the opportunity to defend their senior girls title after outlasting the MacNeill Ravens 3-2 on their home floor. The Wildcats will now face the McRoberts Strikers on Wednesday night at 7 p.m.
The Strikers have rolled through to the final with straight set wins over Cambie and Steveston-London. The latter result avenged their only loss in regular season play. McRoberts defeated McMath 3-1 in the team’s only league meeting back on Oct. 10.
It was an impressive run to the semi-finals for the upstart Ravens who entered the playoffs as the sixth seed after going 4-5 in league play. They upset third place Richmond Christian 3-1 in the opening round.
Meanwhile, the Wildcats senior boys team also had its hands full — holding off the Richmond Colts 3-2 to advance to Thursday’s boys’ final.
The Colts also thrived as an underdog, toppling Burnett in the opening round then giving the 6-1 Wildcats all they can handle.
McMath will still be considerable underdogs Thursday (7 p.m.) against powerhouse Richmond Christian. The Eagles, ranked fifth in the latest provincial “AA” rankings, dropped their first set against a Richmond opponent this season when they got sloppy in game two of their semi-final match with Steveston-London.
They quickly recovered to win 3-1. Richmond Christian defeated McMath 3-0 last Thursday in its regular season finale.
