Three East Side schools swept the senior boys Lower Mainland championship, further raising volleyball as a dominant, popular sport in the region for club and school players.
In a rematch of the senior boys city final, Gladstone again defeated Van Tech to win the regional tournament Nov. 22 in Steveston. The Gladiators won in straight sets, dropping Van Tech 25-15, 25-17, 25-18.
Playing for third, David Thompson knocked off the defending zone champs from Steveston-London 3-1.
All three schools will advance to the AAA B.C. Championships Nov. 26 to 29 at the Langley Events Centre. Seeding will be established by Friday.
Steven Trinh, Gladstone’s captain and setter, was named the tournament MVP.
“He deserved it,” said Gladiators coach Jeff Young. “He listens and he’s always the one on my team who […] knows it’s not over yet and doesn’t get ahead by celebrating.”
Before the final on Saturday night, Gladstone held a practice and worked on adjusting its offence to more aggressively set up the middle hitters.
“We noticed that they always give the ball to the outside hitters when the ball is really off the net so it was too obvious — obvious to a point that we needed to change it,” said Young. “So we talked to [Trinh] and we worked on forcing the ball to the middle more.”
Trinh, who also plays club volleyball with Apex, was coached to tip the ball for quick points and set the back row to mix up the attack.
“At provincials, we believe we can do very well if we played how we played at Lower Mainlands,” said Young.
