The action went late into the night at Tradex this past Saturday night, but in the end, one team out lasted the rest to call themselves the 15U Girls Provincial Champions.
In a tight, three-set match, T2VB Crew knocked off Velocity Volleyball Club, 25-18, 18-25, 15-11 to claim the Gold Medal.
“Everybody on the team was a star today,” said Anya Pemberton, 15U Girls Provincial Championship MVP. “The energy from everyone around you keeps you going and adrenaline is everything in a game like this, especially when it’s this late and this big.”
Pemberton added, despite the excitement of winning a provincial title, her and her teammates were likely going to sleep well once they finish celebrating a long weekend of volleyball that saw the team play seven games in less than 36 hours.
Provincial Championship All Star, Lexi Prefontaine, echoed Pemberton’s comments about this being a team win.
“I think we played really well and we left everything we had on the court,” Prefontaine said. “I’m really proud of how everyone played.”
She also added that before the start of the final game her focus wasn’t really on winning or losing, but rather on making sure she did everything she could to ensure they won as a team or lost as a team.
“We’ve worked so hard this year, and this win means that all our hard work has finally paid off.”
The win was somewhat of an upset given the T2VB Crew entered the Provincial Championships as the tournament’s No. 11 seed.
Before the game, head coach, Tammy Thomas asked her old coach Steve Manuel of UBC Okanagan fame for some advice on what to tell the girls before the big match. He wrote down a quote reminding the girls that they had already guaranteed themselves a Silver Medal, so why not win, and trade it in for a Gold Medal.
“Basically, I just read Steve’s quote and said to them, this is a team we know we can beat, so let’s do it,” Thomas said. “I think it motivated them extra, because you know, you’re tired at 10:00 p.m. and I don’t think they looked tired at all tonight and that’s amazing.”
Thomas also credited her girls for matching the intensity, smarts and skill level of Velosity’s middles all game.
“Our hitters came out banging,” Thomas said. “I mean, that’s the best hitting I’ve seen from our team all year.”
And while Thomas talked about how well her three Provincial All Stars (Chloe Ladd, Pemberton and Prefontaine) were all weekend long, she also said a lot of credit for this win goes to the girls on the bench.
“Our bench were so good today. They were calling ‘ins’ and ‘outs’. They didn’t care that they weren’t playing. They were working with the players on the court, telling them what to do, so it was phenomenal.”
15U Girls Volleyball Medalist
Tier 1
1- T2VB Crew (1)
2- Velocity
3- PGYVC Kodiaks (Red)
Tier 2
1- Air Attack (Black)
2- SCVC (Pink)
3- Focus (Dave)
Tier 3
1- Kootenay
2- Rain City (Rush)
3- Infinity (Rich)
Tier 4
1- CBVC Crush
2- KVA Pack (Orange)
3- Sky (White)
Rest of the tournament results can be found here.
Video of the game and other Provincials news/videos can be found on our Facebook page.
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