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UPDATE: Tear-jerking play in Lake Country for B.C. Volleyball Championships

Host George Elliott Coyotes placed 13th, Vernon’s Seaton Sonics secured sixth
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George Elliott Coyotes mascot wasn’t impressed with the Lake Country team’s loss against Surrey Friday, Dec. 2. (Jennifer Smith - Morning Star)

It was a game that left the coach in tears.

Standing over six-feet tall, Jason Wilkinson was left weeping in his hands as he watched his AAA senior girls team win over the second best team in B.C.

It was only part way through the provincials, bringing the Surrey Grandview Grizzlies into the semi-finals, but it was an impressive victory.

Surrey beat Lake Country’s George Elliott Coyotes, the No. 2 seeded and provincial host, in the Grizzlies’ first game Friday at HS Grenda Middle School 3-1.

The best of five game bumped Surrey into the top eight and Lake Country down into the 9-16.

“They did not quit, they fought hard,” Wilkinson said of the aggressive Coyotes.

But the Grizzlies battled back in a nail-biting game, reducing Wilkinson to tears of joy and pride.

“They didn’t even know what hit them,” he told his team of Grade 11 and 12 girls, who barely made it to provincials following a snowstorm that wreaked havoc on the Lower Mainland.

“We are not supposed to be here, but we are.”

The girls were supposed to drive up for the games, but the school district couldn’t let them with the condition of the roads.

But with Surrey’s Earl Marriott Mariners also making it to the provincials, that would have left a huge hole in the tournament, plus a lot of sad players. Pitt Meadows already couldn’t make it to the championships.

So the district rented a bus and the hometown rivals shared it up to the Okanagan.

Round robin play Thursday saw the two Surrey teams face off in a tight best of 3.

The Grizzlies took the win, their first of the day, celebrated with a late night A&W drive-thru.

The Surrey team would end up earning seventh in the finals Saturday.

Vernon’s own W.L. Seaton Sonics placed sixth.

The Sonics advanced out of the round of 15 with a win over Vancouver’s Gladstone Gladiators, then lost in quarterfinals to the eventual provincial champion R.A. McMath Wildcats of Richmond, who defeated the West Vancouver Highlanders 3-2 in the best of five final.

Seaton defeated the Stelly’s Stingers of Victoria on the consolation side before falling to the Little Flower Academy Angels of Vancouver in the fifth-sixth place game.

After Lake Country’s loss to Surrey, George Elliott then fell to the LV Rogers Bombers of Nelson in their first consolation side game.

The Coyotes then defeated the Langley Saints and Gladstone to finish 13th.

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The Grandview Grizzlies beat the George Elliott Coyotes in Friday’s AAA provincials at HS Grenda Middle School. (Jennifer Smith - Morning Star)
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Kiera Murphy of the Grandview Grizzlies spikes a ball past George Elliott Coyotes in Friday’s AAA provincials at HS Grenda Middle School. (Jennifer Smith - Morning Star)
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Jennifer Smith

About the Author: Jennifer Smith

Vernon has always been my home, and I've been working at The Morning Star since 2004.
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