Langley Christian School (LCS) Lightning took silver at the provincial AA volleyball championships in Victoria.
Entering the tournament, LCS senior boys were ranked fourth in the province, with a record of top-three finishes in almost every tournament and a first place at the Pacific Academy Halloween tournament.
After a loss to perennial nemesis MEI in their opening match, LCS battled their way back, downing College Heights and MEI in a return match.
In the final on Saturday, Dec. 11, they went up against Prince George’s Duchess Park Condors team with a hard-to-beat defence and a partisan crowd of supporters in yellow shirts, banging on garbage can lids.
LCS head of schools Adam Woelders described it as unprecedented in his experience.
“I’ve been coaching youth volleyball since 1999 and that was the toughest crowd I’ve seen at this level,” Woelders told the Langley Advance Times.
“Most of the parents and teams remaining to watch the final were from the island or interior and clearly didn’t want LCS to win.”
Condors defeated the Langley Christian Lightning 3-1 (22-25, 25-10, 25-19, 25-21) to claim the B.C. banner. MEI took bronze.
READ ALSO: Lightning strikes again: Langley Christian volleyball teams rack up the wins
Lightning coach Brynden Mactavish had nothing but good things to say about his players.
“These boys worked extremely hard all season and improved tremendously,” Mactavish said.
“We finished strong and reached the AA final for the second time in a row, but fell just short. They should be proud of who they’ve become and how they represented our program.”
Two players, Silas Vanhuizen and Lucas Woelders will go on to play post-secondary volleyball next season.
READ ALSO: Langley Christian rallies for first AA volleyball title
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