Kelowna’s T2 Crew 1 returned home the Volleyball Canada nationals with some silverware in their possession.
The Crew secured second place in Division One, Tier 3 of the 16U West Championships, May 19 to 22.
After finishing a respectable fifth in Tier 1 at B.C. championships, with coach Mark Broome, two weeks earlier in Abbotsford, the T2s held their own battling the top tier 1 teams in Western Canada.
“This team has been a ‘workhorse’ team right from day one of the season,” said Crew head coah Tammy Thomas.
“Tryouts were fierce and every event attended we were a force to be reckoned with, placing in top 5 at every event. It is no surprise that we were a top contending team at nationals and just missed the cut for Tier 1 playoffs at the event.”
The Crew fell just two points short of defeating the top-ranked team at nationals, the Force.
“We worked extremely hard to prepare the kids for a great national championship but I was seriously blown away at their high performance as a team and also with some amazing individual performances,” Thomas added,
Sarah Hall was awarded the player of the Wave for day one with an outstanding setting day, running the offence and only losing one set as the starting setter.
Karleigh Podolsky had an outstanding event and won the Player of the Wave on the second day.
“Everyone on the team had some great games and stood out for our team and we persevered Day 2 against the top teams in the nation,” said Thomas. “Even after nine very tough games we were swinging hard and never giving up on plays and ended up winning a silver medal to post up in the Stone House.”