An exceptional eight-match winning streak culminated in a national championship for the East Kootenay Avalanche under-15 boys’ volleyball team.
Playing May 17-19 at the University of Calgary, the Creston-based East Kootenay Volleyball Club squad lost its opening match two sets to one and then never looked back, winning 16 of its final 18 sets — including 11 in a row during one extraordinary stretch — to run the table in Division 2 at the Volleyball Canada nationals.
The gold-medal victory capped an outstanding season for the team, coached by Mike Nelson of Creston and featuring Prince Charles Secondary School students Mark Armstrong, Marcus Bell and Davis Nelson. Competing almost exclusively against big-city competition, the Avalanche proved their worth in bringing home the first national crown in Mike Nelson’s lengthy and illustrious coaching career.
“I’m so proud of the whole team,” said Carrie Armstrong of Creston, the team manager. “They worked hard all year and overcame adversity many times, especially during games at the nationals.”
The championship match – a 28-26, 24-26, 15-7 triumph over 204 Cardinal of Winnipeg – was just one case in point.
A see-saw first set saw East Kootenay fall behind 5-2 before a 9-2 run of its own put the Avalanche in front 11-7. After trailing 15-12 and 21-19, the Avalanche battled their Manitoba foes evenly down the stretch as the score was tied 21-21 and at every point thereafter until the locals pushed through with two consecutive points at 26-all to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three match.
When E.K. jumped out to 9-3 and 14-7 advantages in the second set, it appeared victory was imminent but Cardinal would not quit, closing to within 20-15. Still, clinging to a 23-21 edge, the Avalanche were just two points away from the title before dropping the set 26-24.
With momentum swinging the other way and demoralization a distinct possibility, not to mention fatigue (having played three tense matches per day for three days), the Avalanche found the resolve not only to prevail in the decisive set but do so convincingly. They took leads of 8-1 and 10-2 en route to a third-set victory that put them on the podium for a medal ceremony inside the massive Olympic Oval, site of speed skating events during the 1988 Olympic Winter Games but home to 20 volleyball courts during the six-day nationals.
That match almost seemed tame in comparison to the drama that unfolded in the semifinals against the WinMan club, also of Winnipeg. E.K. trailed by as many as 11 in the first set and faced a 24-16 deficit when the Avalanche stared down eight straight set points without blinking and rattled off an unthinkable 10 consecutive points behind the serving of Fernie’s Ben Gilmet on their way to a 26-24, 25-15 victory that sent them into the gold-medal match.
The day began with the first of three sudden-death playoffs in a seven-hour span, a three-setter over the St. Albert Sturgeons from suburban Edmonton, 25-20, 20-25, 15-5.
Ironically, the Avalanche’s final opponent was also its first as 204 Cardinal posted a three-set victory in the opening round-robin match for both teams on Day 1, 29-27, 23-25, 15-7. E.K. held leads of 21-19 and 22-18 in the first and second sets, respectively, before settling for a split, then trailed from the outset in the tiebreaker.
The locals would not lose a set again over the next two days, however, sweeping the Apex club of Burnaby 27-25, 25-9 and Airdrie/Calgary 26-24, 25-15 to round out the opening day.
High drama was also at play as E.K. fell behind Burnaby 24-16 in Set 1 before staging an improbable rally, and the opening set of the Airdrie/Calgary match was tied seven different times before the Avalanche prevailed.
The momentum carried over into the second day of action when the Avalanche posted 2-0 victories over Brandon (25-20, 25-16), FOG of Edmonton (25-17, 25-22) and Kelowna Kahuna (25-17, 25-14).
In addition to the Creston trio, the 2015 Avalanche roster was rounded out by three players from Cranbrook and three from Fernie, although it was far from full strength at the end. East Kootenay was initially seeded in Division 1 at the nationals, based on its 10th-place finish in the Alberta provincials, but was moved to Division 2 when it became apparent many of its players would not be available for the Volleyball Canada event.
In fact, the Avalanche played the first two days at nationals with the minimum six players — Mike Nelson sitting alone on the bench with no substitutions at his disposal in the event of an injury or even to give a player an occasional rest. The team enjoyed the luxury of one extra player on the final day.
Assistant coach Niall Cobbe of Creston was also unable to make it to Calgary.
The 2015 nationals marked the first time Volleyball Canada staged boys’ and girls’ championships in all age groups in the same place at the same time, setting up the largest festival of volleyball in Canadian history and possibly the country’s biggest single-sport event ever.
A total of 787 teams from coast to coast competed in two separate intakes from May 14-19, with more than 10,000 athletes, 300 referees and 15,000 spectators in attendance.
A pre-tournament highlight for many players, including the Avalanche, was attending a World Volleyball League match at the Stampede Corral between the national teams of Cuba and Canada, the latter featuring starter Gord Perrin of Creston, a former player of Mike Nelson’s. Canada won the match 3-0.
—EAST KOOTENAY VOLLEYBALL CLUB