McRoberts Strikers are off to Kamloops this week for the B.C. Junior Boys Volleyball Tournament as two-time Vancouver and District champions.
The Strikers continued their terrific season-long battle with the Richmond Christian Eagles with a thrilling five-set victory (25-19,26-24,23-25,22-25,15-8) in the final last Thursday.
“We were up 2-0 and lost the next two (sets), things were really tense on the bench,”said Strikers coach Stephen Ng.
“During the coin flip before the fifth set, I pulled the team together to reset. I told everybody to take a deep breath and told them ‘it's now or never... dig deep because this is what we practiced the whole year for.’
“The response from the boys was outstanding.”
The result came two weeks after the Eagles won the city title with a 3-1 win over the Strikers, handing them their first loss in Richmond play after a perfect 8-0 run in league action.
“The rivalry between McRoberts and RCS is a live and stronger than ever at this age group. Every match between these two has been a treat for the fans. Good luck to both teams at Provincials at Kamloops,” Ng added.
The highly-competitive four-team V&D event saw McRoberts also go the distance (3-2) with Burnaby/New West League champion Burnaby Mountain to advance while Richmond Christian got past Moscrop 3-1.
The Strikers include: Willy Billedo, Braeden Doneza, Mak Hui, Bryan Jung, Austin Kofler, Lucas Alibudbud, Egan Wong, Will Zhang, Kevin Chen, Rand Wang and Ethan Yodogawa.
The boys are also coached by Sherri Frier.
The provincials start on Thursday with matches taking place at Thompson Rivers University and near by Sa Hali and NorKam Secondary schools.
