The Comox Valley Volleyball Club鈥檚 U16 Boys鈥� Wave By Strikers season has come to an end as they captured one of the best finishes ever by a Comox Valley boys club volleyball team at the Canadian national championships in Edmonton.
The boys qualified and entered nationals ranked 31st in the country. They earned a spot in the top Division 1 with the best teams in the country through very strong, consistent results at the three Super Series tournaments this season. The team improved 10 ranking spots and finished with an impressive 21st place out of the 88-team tournament. The boys were the fifth-best team from B.C. at nationals.
Every game they played was down to the wire , with most best of three matches going the maximum three sets and winning, or losing by the minimum two points. They were very close to finishing in the top 10 in the nation.
They finished their Day 1 pool in second place, losing to Air Attack Gold by just two points in the third set for first in the pool. This still set them up in a top power pool on Day 2. Here they met the fourth ranked team from Alberta (the Smokin Aces Black) and beat them in straight sets 25-17, 25-18. Next in the power pool was the Smashing Bananas, the No. 1 ranked team from Saskatchewan, dropping a close match 24-26, 25-20, 11-15. The final game of Day 2 was against the No. 2 ranked team from Manitoba, 204 U16 Gold. In another close match, the boys couldn鈥檛 quite keep up with this top team losing 21-25 and 20-25.
Heading into championship Sunday the boys were still competing in the top Division 1, and now were up against the #1 team from Quebec (Lynx Elite) in the quarter-finals. The Comox Valley squad won the first set 25-18, before the Lynx stormed back with 25-23 and 15-8 wins for the match.
鈥淭he coaching team, parents, fans and community could not be more proud of how these 11 boys represented the Comox Valley Volleyball Club and community all season,鈥� said assistant coach Kevin East, in a press release. 鈥淭hey showed brilliance on and off the court. We had countless coaches, parents and referees comment on how professional they were and supportive of each other on the court and from our bench with the loud cheering.
鈥淲e overheard and were approached by many teams and parents throughout the season, asking us where we were from. Many had never seen or heard of our team and they were very impressed with the high level of play. Like coach Steve said, 鈥榳e have put the mainland on notice.鈥欌��
The team would also like to thank all the sponsors this season, as it would not be possible for any of it without the communities support and generous sponsorship from some amazing community-minded businesses that believe in youth sports and community!
Thanks to all the parents for supporting their children throughout the season to participate in the 2023 CVVC high-performance program. It was a jam-packed season with many practices, fitness training, counselling and a record nine tournaments.
Finally, the team is super grateful and they all realize the hours upon hours of volunteer time put in from the coaching team of head coach Steve Woolner, assistant coaches Brayden Brouwer, Riley Rutan, Kevin East, Kurt Stushnoff, Jesse Knight and Julie Young.
Congratulations again to this amazing team that bonded early and built great friendships and memories together. Hope to see them all back next season to continue their development and love for the sport of volleyball.
