The Columbia Bible College Bearcats got off to a great start in the CCAA national championship semifinals, but the Red Deer Kings had a better finish.
The fifth-seeded Bearcats, coming off a quarter-final win over the No. 4 Humber Hawks on Thursday, appeared to be on the verge of another upset in their second game of the tournament, hosted by Briercrest College in Moose Jaw, Sask.
Facing the top-seeded Kings, CBC won the first set 25-22, and built a 19-17 lead in the second set.
But the Kings took over at that point, reeling off four straight points en route to a 25-21 comeback win in the second. They polished off the Bearcats by winning the next two sets by 25-20 and 25-12 scores.
Brendan Folkerts was CBC's player of the game with 10 kills, four digs and two blocks.
Their national title hopes snuffed, the Bearcats will have to win two games on Saturday to secure the bronze medal. The first is at 8 a.m. Pacific time (streamed online at ccaa.tv) against their PacWest conference rivals, the Douglas Royals. Douglas beat CBC in the PacWest finals two weeks ago. The winner advances to the national bronze medal game at 4 p.m. Pacific time.