After helping her team to a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five match in hostile territory Tuesday, George Elliot Coyotes captain Abby Einarson had a message for her charges:
“Just 25 more points, girls, and we go to the B.C. championships.”
Well, it took 50 more points but Einarson and the Coyotes are off to the B.C. AA Senior Girls High School Volleyball Championships, defeating the Kalamalka Lakers 3-1 in front of a packed house at Coldstream’s Kal Secondary gym featuring supporters and unnamed mascots for both teams (Kal’s unofficially went by Kaligator for one-night-only; the Coyotes settled on Wylie for theirs for the game).
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Elliot defeated Kal 25-16, 25-19, 16-25 and 25-17 to earn what is believed to be the team’s first provincial championship berth in at least two decades. The Coyotes have hosted the provincials once before but qualified that year as a host team.
The Coyotes forced the backdoor challenge by results from the Okanagan Valley AA championships last weekend in Summerland.
The Lakers made it to the final, losing to the Sa-Hali Sabres of Kamloops, who eliminated George Elliot in the semifinals (Kal knocked out the host Rockets).
The Coyotes defeated Summerland in the bronze medal game and, because they didn’t play Kal during the Okanagan tournament, they could then challenge Kal for the second Okanagan berth to the B.C. tournament.
It was a rule the Lakers incorrectly thought had been abolished.
“To say we are disappointed is an understatement,” said Lakers head coach Maria Hansen. “We laid it all on the line in the match we needed to win at Valleys, beating Sa-Hali in pool play. This insured we would not meet GESS in the semis as we knew they were a strong team. We then went on to beat Summerland in the semis in five sets in what should have qualified us for provincials. GESS lost to Sahali in their semi.”
Hansen had been hoping to lead the Lakers to a 16th B.C. tournament appearance.
“It is a bitter pill to swallow,” she said. “It has been an emotional roller coaster for them (players) and I think they were overwhelmed as they feel what they earned was being taken away.”
roger@vernonmorningstar.com
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