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FVVC breaks through with long-awaited victory

Fraser Valley Volleyball Club wins gold in all-Langley final
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Fraser Valley Volleyball Club won the 18U BC provincial club championship on April 23 at the Richmond Olympic Oval. The team defeated another Langley squad, Force, in the gold-medal game. Both teams now prepare for the Canadian national 18U club championships in Saskatoon. Submitted photo.

At long last, the Fraser Valley Volleyball Club defeated a long-time nemesis.

The FVVC 18U boys volleyball team took down their Langley foes both in power pool play and then again when it mattered most, the gold medal contest on Sunday in the championship finals of the BC club volleyball provincial championships.

The two-day championships were held April 22 and 23 at the Richmond Olympic Oval.

“They (Force) have been pretty dominant and had this group’s number for a while so it was a pretty special win,” admitted FVVC coach Jordan Geransky.

“This has been the goal since the start of the year, to win the whole thing.”

The Force had a lengthy winning streak, not just against FVVC, but against all of their competition.

Since losing in the national championship final four years ago at the 14U level, the team had reeled off a nearly four-year winning streak, capturing national titles at the 15U, 16U and 17U levels.

That included winning 20-something matches against the core of the FVVC team.

That ended in the team’s first head-to-match in pool play on Saturday with FVVC winning 2-0 (25-22 and 25-17).

“We talked about that you don’t know if you can win until you do and that was really big to prove that this group was capable of getting the win,” Geransky said.

The teams would meet again in Sunday’s championship final.

FVVC took set one 27-25 in a back-and-forth match before Force evened up the match 25-22. The third and deciding set went 15-12 in favour of FVVC.

“We ran into a team that was incredibly hot and hungry and gunning for it themselves,” said Force coach Ryan Hofer. “It was a dogfight and they came out (on the top) in the end.”

“It was a pretty incredible run, I have never seen anything like that,” Hofer said about his team’s four-year run of excellence.

FVVC is made up of players from Langley, Surrey, Abbotsford, Mission, New Westminster and Vancouver.

“It was assembling a lot of different players from a lot of different places,” Geransky said.

His team is athletic and big and focuses on the service game and blocks.

“We serve really aggressively and play quite well around the net,” Geransky said. “That was our game plan, our style of play.”

Both teams move on to the national championships in Saskatoon, which run May 11 to 14.

FVVC’s Reid Marriott was named the tournament MVP.

Several players from both teams were also recognized with season all-star awards.

FVVC’s Coltyn Liu, Jordan Schnitzer and Marriott earned awards while the Force’s Brodie Hofer, Colton Loewen, Nate Teasdale, Zec Johnson and Phil Stahl, were also recognized.

Airborne second

Airborne, another Langley volleyball team, finished second over the weekend in Richmond in the 18U Division 1 girls category.

The team went 3-0 in pool play but lost 2-0 (25-22,25-20) in the gold medal game to Ducks Bryan.

Jayden Bontkes was recognized with a season all-star award.