An initial season roster of 12 became only 9 who left for Kelowna on April 4th, ready for likely the longest roadtrip of the season, and the last before the Provincial Championships in 2 weeks time. Solid contributions from everyone were made, but little did they know that the injury bug would strike yet again.

Apex Pinch were slotted in Pool F with South Kamloops, Heat Ahn, and Seaside Soul, with the first two squads being U18 age. The two top teams coming out of pool play would go to Gold Division playoffs, with the 3rd and 4th going to Silver Division. First opponent of the day was South Kamloops, a team with lots of size in all positions. Unfortunately, Apex were unable to take full advantage of Kamloops’ lack of speed and went down 14-25, 15-25.

Knowing that the next two matches were likely must-wins to reach the Gold Division, and inspired by a riveting speech from captain Khong, Apex roared to a strong start against Seaside Soul. Partway through the first set, Power Hitter Nguyen came down awkwardly on her leg while attempting a dig. Attempts to play through the pain were short-lived, as she soon realized that she needed to be subbed out. Despite letting the first set slip away to the tune of 22-25, Apex never lost its stride, gutting out a second set victory by the same score, 25-22. Pinch then came out of the third set gates hard, taking a four point lead into the side-change, 8-4. On the strength of their balanced attack, and the strategic timeouts by their coach, Seaside came back to tie the third set up at double digits. After back and forth rallies, Seaside inched out a victory by the score of 15-13, effectively eliminating Apex from the Gold Division.

Next up were Heat Anh, a U18 team without a lot of size in some positions, but tenacious on defence and incredibly disciplined. Despite knowing that the outcome of this match mattered little to reaching the Gold Division, neither team would give up the victory easily and battled to an 18-16 score in the third set, with Heat being the victor.

Apex went in to the Silver Division playoffs at the end of Day 1 knowing that 1st place in Silver was still a goal worth fighting for, with the loser of the first playoff game automatically out of top 8 in Silver. Exhausted already from the three previous matches, two of them being marathon ones, Pinch mustered a nail-biting victory against White Rock Gord by the score of 15-13 in the third set.

The next morning’s first match, the team would have to come together even more without an injured Nguyen cheering them on from the sidelines, as she needed medical attention at Kelowna General Hospital. First opponent of the day was from nearby Penticton, with lots of family making the short trip to cheer them on. The crowd was silenced however, by Apex squeaking out a first set win of 26-24, and then coming back from almost a double digit deficit to win the second set 25-21.

Semi-final action saw Apex Pinch up against Vernon Vision, who had quickly dispatched their quarter-final opponent in the previous round. With momentum firmly on their side, Pinch made short work of Vision, winning by scores of 25-20 and 25-11.

Now with first place in Silver within its grasp, Apex would finally have to get past team Kootenays and their fiery coach. Apex quickly realized that Kootenays’ hopes relied on the hitting arm of their Power Hitter, who saw up to 80% of their team’s sets whether in the front row or back. Apex held a comfortable lead for the majority of the set until Kootenays clawed back to 23-24. After a timeout by coach Thi to freeze the server, Kootenays’ captain put the ball into the net to give the first set to Apex. The second set saw more of Kootenays’ Power Hitter unleashing devastating attacks, but Apex was starting to groove on her timing and digging or soft-blocking some of her hits. However, Apex still conceded the set to Kootenays, setting up a final third set for 1st place. Still relying on the strong play of their Setter and Power, Kootenays also used strong serving to emerge on top, winning the set and the Silver division.

Extremely proud and satisfied with the way they battled, Apex Pinch held their heads up high on the long ride home, smiling from ear-to-ear when they weren’t fast asleep from the exhaustion of the weekend.

- Will Ko