Older, bigger and harder-hitting opponents were no match for the Avalanche under-15 boys’ team, which won the Rich Wayling Memorial Volleyball Tournament in Cranbrook on April 4.
The East Kootenay Volleyball Club reps rallied from a set down to beat Lethbridge Volleyball Club 19-25, 25-18, 15-10 in a thrilling best-of-three championship match to claim the Kootenay Cup at Parkland Middle School.
The U15 Avalanche, a branch of the Cranbrook-based EKVC, is coached by Mike Nelson of Creston and features Creston players Mark Armstrong, Davis Nelson and Marcus Bell, all of whom played integral roles in the two-day tournament.
Armstrong is the starting setter, Davis Nelson the main power hitter and Bell a back-row specialist who served out the last sets of both the final and another dramatic comeback in the semifinal against the EKVC U16 team.
“We played everyone and had important contributions from each player,” said Mike Nelson, who regularly rotated his three bench players on to the court throughout all eight matches. “It was a team win.”
It wasn’t necessarily an expected triumph given that his was the only U15 entry in the six-team field, which also featured U16 clubs from Spokane and Vulcan, Alta., plus the EKVC’s U18 reps (whose results didn’t count in the official standings because of the age difference).
“Although I’m aware we were out-sized and -skilled, we have a group of confident kids that believe they can beat anyone,” said the coach. “We are stressing the importance of hard work and also that defence and ball control are what wins matches.”
Lethbridge power hitters dominated the first set but the Avalanche produced a big pushback in the second to take leads of 13-4 and 21-6 before hanging on.
They fell behind 4-1 early in the decisive third set but rallied to lead 8-4 at the changeover, then found themselves deadlocked at 9-9 before pulling away in the clutch, with Bell serving out the last two points.
“We were able to out-defend and our ball control was excellent in those final two sets,” Mike Nelson said. “That was the difference. Both teams had excellent setters, they were far stronger attackers, but we served and passed better during the match.
“This will undoubtedly provide us with confidence heading into provincials.”
Those provincials are the Alberta championships May 2-3 in Calgary, where the team will return two weeks later for the national club championships at the University of Calgary.
The Avalanche downed the EKVC U16 boys 19-25, 25-12, 15-10 in a nail-biting semifinal that saw the eventual winners squander a 5-0 third-set lead before staging a late rally of their own. The U16s led 8-6 at the changeover but were tied 10-10 when Bell, having recently come off the bench, served out the final five points.
As they would do in the final, the Avalanche came back strongly after the opening set loss, winning the first seven points of the second set on serve.
Earlier in the day they posted a 25-20, 25-16 quarterfinal victory over a game group from Vulcan that had finished last in the preliminary round the day before, only to nearly upset Lethbridge in a 2-1 defeat to start the playoffs.
The Avalanche posted a hard-fought 4-1 match record on day 1 to finish second to Lethbridge in the round-robin, edging Vulcan 15-25, 25-14, 15-6, the EKVC U16s 14-25, 25-18, 15-8 and Spokane 26-24, 26-24, after having trailed the Americans 23-16 in the opening set.
The U15s were the only team to take a set off of otherwise unbeaten Lethbridge in a 22-25, 25-18, 15-11 first-round loss.
They didn’t roll over for the U18s in a 25-16, 25-14 defeat that was credited as a 2-0 U15 victory in the official standings, as was the case for all the older team’s opponents.
The Avalanche also includes three players from Cranbrook and three from Fernie.
—EAST KOOTENAY VOLLEYBALL CLUB