For the first time since 1999, the Duchess Park Condors have done it.
They are the double-A boys volleyball provincial champions.
The Condors defeated the Langley Christian Lightning 3-1 (22-25, 25-10, 25-19, 25-21) to claim the B.C. banner Saturday evening in Victoria.
After a close three-point loss in the first set, the Condors dominated their opponents with a decisive second-set onslaught directed by their court general, tournament MVP setter Chris Zimmerman.
The 17-year-old Queen’s University recruit was right on the mark with his passes, setting up the Condors’ front-line killers – Jeremy Weaver, Esme Long, Raiden Aimetz, Isaak Lank and Jacob Hoskins – for point after point.
“Chris is amazing, he delivers the ball in the right spots every time and he puts up a great block and he’s amazing at defence,” said Weaver. “He really kept us together and when we were down he pulled us back up and he kept us up and together.
“Once we cleaned up our errors after the first set we showed them that we could beat them and I think they got in their own heads a bit with that (second-set loss). We knew we could compete with the guys going into the tournament, we just had to play our game.”
Weaver, a Grade 11 outside hitter, said the Condors were confident they could bring home the title after a strong third-place performance at the TRU tournament in Kamloops in mid-November. In the semifinal round of their only major tournament of the season, the Condors put up a significant fight against this year’s provincial triple-A champions, Kelowna Secondary, and they knew then their double-A potential was limitless.
“It’s pretty special, these guys deserve it, they put in a lot of hard work and believed in each other and it was quite the performance this week they put in -every game they got better, even in the final,” said Condors head coach Jason Weaver. “We definitely peaked at the right time. Right from Day 1 of the tournament we had the belief we were the Number 1 team in the province and we just had to prove it.”
As good as they were at putting the ball down, it was defence and passing that won the match for Duchess. Libero Ryan Danbrook, among five senior Condors, doesn’t get the glory the guys do when they finish off points, but his contributions to the championship were obvious on the court Saturday and his teammates backed him admirably with their own commitment to keeping balls alive in the Duchess side of the court.
They also did a job blocking the powerful swats that kept coming from Langley’s all-star setter/outside hitter Silas Van Huizen, a six-foot-four force at the net who was a constant threat to the Condors.
“We’re not a huge team and so we have to do everything well as a unit and the never-let-the-ball-touch-the-floor attitude, it frustrates other teams when you play like that,” said coach Weaver. “It’s deflating, especially when you win those long rallies. We don’t have a huge block and have to make up for it in other areas and we were definitely the best team out there passing and it shows.”
The Condors carried the momentum of their 15-point win into the third set and took advantage of some clutch serving from Aimetz to build a 15-14 lead. Long and Weaver had their hammers working for them and a deceptive backset to Weaver from Zimmerman made it a 23-19 game. Aimetz landed a block after Weaver extended himself to preserve a prolonged point and the set ended with a Langley miss at the net.
Backed by a pro-Prince George contingent of yellow-shirted friends, parents and family members were banging on garbage can lids from their seats behind the players bench. Zimmerman plays for the BC provincial U-18 team and some of his Team BC buddies play for the tournament host, Pacific Christian of Victoria, and they joined the Condor cheering section.
In the fourth and final set, the Condors jumped out to an early 8-3 lead. After a Langley time-out, Lank and Hoskins both landed aces, Zimmerman surprised the Lightning with a quick volley and Long put up a block that put Duchess ahead 17-9. The Lightning got within striking range, but couldn’t reel the Condors in.
Zimmerman’s block put Duchess up 23-18 and Weaver tipped to set up match point and it ended when the Lightning was unable to get the ball back over, and the Condors’ 22-year championship drought was over.
Hoskins and Weaver were selected to the tournament all-star team, along with College Heights Cougars outside hitter Eli Woldringh.
The graduating Condors are Zimmerman, Aimetz, Hoskins, Danbrook and Judah Keryluik. Brett Kester, Ashton Pigeau and Owen McKee also played for the team. Tim Flannigan is the assistant coach.
A banner-raising ceremony is planned for Wednesday at 1:15 p.m. at Duchess Park gym.
Earlier Saturday at the double-A tournament, the College Heights Cougars lost their fifth-place playoff to Pacific Academy and finished sixth. Coached by Lori Slater, the Cougars were ranked fifth going in.
