Placing third in their pool, it was onto the playoffs in tier III, beginning with a match versus the Ducks from Coquitlam. Again with great play from setter Ketchum, the Smash was able to pull off a 2-0 (25-23, 25-16) win and move onto the tier III finals facing the Focus Lightning.

The finals showed some effects of the long day of volleyball for both teams, as it was their fifth game of the day. Even though both teams were a bit drained, it was a good hard fought match with the Smash coming out victorious in a close 2-0 (25-22, 25-20) win to claim first in tier III.

–
Johann

A long season of practices, road trips, and team bonding proved to be successful as Apex Explosion 18U finished first in Division 2, Tier 2 at the 2011 17/18U Canadian Open. This is their second consecutive GOLD MEDAL won at Nationals, moving up a tier this year! They fought a long hard battle coming in 2nd for their first day of pool play and 3rd in their power pool on the second day. On day 3, they played rivals Synergy and knocked them out 2-1 in the quarter finals. They went on to defeat Kamloops in the semi finals. The Sackville Sonics gave them a run for their money in the final gold medal match, but Explosion prevailed to win 15-9 in the 3rd set. The team came together, fought hard, and played the best they have played together all season long. Amazing plays, digs and retrievals were made that ooh’d and ahh’d the crowds. Their coaches have never been more proud.

Coaches James, Corinna, Dawn and Jess would like to congratulate the girls on a well-deserved Gold medal win at Nationals. Way to go Girls! Best of luck to you all in your future endeavors and never lose your passion for volleyball.

The first and only road trip for the 14U Adrenaline was to the Provincial Championships in Kelowna. Placing 6th at the Regional Championships, Adrenaline entered the provincial tournament with high hopes to rank near the top.

The first day, the girls knew they were up against a difficult pool with Force, White Rock, and Thunder White. The day started off against Force, a team having played together since elementary school. Having never seen this team before, the girls had a slow start with a 25-15 loss. Unfortunately, the girls couldn’t keep up with the Force team, as they seemed unstoppable with one huge server. Next, Adrenaline went on to play a competitive White Rock team. Shaking off the first match, the girls were able set up for bumps, sets and spikes, however falling 25-18 in both sets in a well fought match. With our last game against our cross town rivals, Thunder White, the girls knew that this would be the game they needed to win, for all the previous tournaments in which they had lost to Thunder in three sets. Adrenaline started off strong keeping up with Thunder point for point, until our opponents started on a run. The girls trailed for a bit but the supportive cheers from the bench and the bleachers gave the girls that extra momentum to finish off a nail biting first set, 26-24. In the second set, the girls stayed calm and collected, making perfect passes and getting serves over. They set the pace of the second set using the momentum from the first set and never looked back defeating Thunder White 25-13. Apex Adrenaline finished Day 1 placing third in their pool setting up their next day in Division 1 Tier 2.

On the second day of matches, the 14U Adrenaline started off strong playing a tall Kelowna Kraze team. The girls dominated in the first set of the day, setting up a strong offense and taking the set 25-12. Kelowna Kraze came back and kept up with Adrenaline with the intent of winning the next set. However, the girls stuck to their game plan, setting up with perfect passes and putting up big blocks against some tall opponents. The girls defeated Kelowna in the second set 25-20 and went on to play Big Kahuna in the semi-finals. The teams fought hard and were neck in neck, but the girls weren’t giving up as they gave one final push to take the first set 25-23. From then on, Adrenaline stayed on top of their defense and was able to execute an unbeatable offense to win the second set and earning themselves a seat in the finals. The final game of the tournament and with all the hard work and skills learnt by the Adrenaline girls, they faced a tough Action team that gave them a run for their money. Staying focused on their game, setting up for spikes and blocking from all sides but what really kept the team strong was their consistent defense by staying on their toes and diving towards the ground to keep rallies going. It was a tight match throughout, but Adrenaline was able to defeat Action (25-18, 25-23) for the hard earned title of first place in Division 1, Tier 2. The girls were undefeated for the day and they celebrated an amazing finish at the Provincial Championships placing 13th overall.

Sadly, this was the final tournament for Apex Adrenaline. It was an excellent season and the team has worked hard throughout the past few months and has shown much improvement since the beginning of the season. The girls, both individually and as a team, have grown in strength, leadership, and skills. Each girl has great potential to excel as they progress in their volleyball careers. We want to thank all the parents for their endless support at practices and tournaments. We want to wish the Apex Adrenaline girls all the best in their future endeavours.

Johann, Kevin, Audrey

The 16U Samurai entered the Lower Mainland Super Series as a 13th seed after a disappointing finish at their first tournament two weeks ago in Fraser Valley. The team was placed in a 5 team pool along with VVC Black, Air Attack Gold, FVVC White and CVVC Strikers. With a strong focus placed on ball control and smart serving, the team was motivated to overcome a tough first day of pool play and place themselves with the top teams in the province in the Tier 1 Division.

Day 1 started with a match against Air Attack Gold. Last tournament, Air Attack defeated the Samurai in playoffs with their strong blocking and good passing. However, this match was controlled by the Samurai with their strong serving and great serve receiving, leading to a 2-0 victory (25-12, 25-19). Next match was against a scrappy FVVC White team. The Samurai jumped to an early lead in both sets with a strong overall attack led by good choices from setter and captain Brandon Nguyen. Apex would eventually win the match 2-0 (25-15, 25-13). Next match was a crucial match against cross-town rivals and top ranked team in the pool, VVC Black. With continued focus on strong ball control and being confident in our team’s abilities, the team took the first set in a close battle, winning 25-20. Coach Wylen and Derek made sure the Samurai continued their momentum in the second set and behind the strong attack on the outside from Albert Tang and Kevin Li, the Samurai jumped out to a convincing 17-2 lead and would finish the match taking the second set 25-11. The final match of the day was against a tough CVVC Strikers team. The team would take the first set before falling behind to the Strikers 21-24 in the second. However, behind the clutch serving of Matt Nee, the Samurai would come back and take the next 5 points and win second set 26-24 and placed ourselves in Tier 1, with a cross-over match the next day against Kelowna Kannons.

The match against Kelowna Kannons was a tight match throughout. Samurai took the first set behind strong play from Albert Tang and Dawei Wang. The Kannons responded with a fantastic second set, using their outside hitters as their main offensive option. With a top 8 finish in mind, the Samurai responded with their best set of the tournament. The team jumped out to an early 8-3 lead and never looked back as they took the match and earned themselves a spot in the top 8. Next match was against the one of the province’s top teams in Focus Xplosion. Samurai continued to show their dominance on the offensive end, but had difficulty stringing together points due to the strong blocking and attacking prowess by Focus. Sparked by the strong passing and attacking of ex-Apex members Matty Hall-Stevenson and Kashtin De Souza, Focus took both sets, defeating the Samurai. The final game of the tournament was against Kodiaks. Coach Wylen and Derek stressed the importance of this bounce back game and the team received the message well, taking the first set. After falling early to the Kodiaks in the second set, Samurai pushed hard but fell just short, leading to another 3 set match. The Samurai jumped out to an early 8-1 lead behind a massive offensive game by outside John Dela Cruz and great serving by Patrick Lin. The team continued to put the pressure on, and took the third set in dominating fashion, winning 15-1. This victory concluded a strong weekend and pushed the Samurai to a 5th place finish.

The team showed great fight and heart throughout the weekend, led by Captain Brandon Nguyen and on-court leader Richard Bui. The Samurai seem to boast one of the more well-rounded attacking units with lots of depth on the outsides (Albert Tang, Evan Chang, James Ngo, John Dela Cruz, Kevin Li, Patrick Lin). With continued hard work and focus, the future looks bright as the team try to continue their high level of play and hopefully maintain their recent success.

The second match of the day saw the girls facing a very strong serving FVVC team. The girls fought hard but ended up falling in straight sets 25-12, 25-15. In the last match of the day, the girls faced a competitive Air Attack team that gave them a good run for their money. While running a steady offense and executing good defense the girls were able to come out with a straight sets win 26-24, 25-23.

In only their second tournament, rotating captains Anahita Feraidoonian, Julia De Pieri, and Madison Reyes should outstanding leadership on and off the court, keeping the team focused and energized throughout the day. All the girls have shown much improvement since the last tournament and continue to impress on the court. Thanks you to all the family and friends who came out to show their support and assist with scoring/lining. We are looking forward to our next two tournaments before Provincials.
 
Johann, Audrey, Kevin

Placed in a pool with four other teams, the Express dropped a close first match with White Rock (2-1) before finally getting their first taste of victory this season against Air Attack Black (2-1) before dropping their final two matches to Vernon (2-0) and Victoria (2-1). Finishing off the day at 1-3, the Express boys would place 4th out of 5 in pool play, which would lead to a crossover match up against Kelowna Killbillies first thing in the morning.

Day two of the Fraser Valley Super Volley started bright and early for the boys. Like most of their previous games in the tournament, it took a third set to defeat the Kelowna Killbillies before advancing to a quarterfinal match against a White Rock team that the boys had taken to three set games already in their previous two meetings. Although the Express came out hard against White Rock, the match would end on a similar note as the previous two matches against the boys from White Rock losing in the third set 16-14. With plenty of volleyball left to play in the day and a chance to finish the tournament in 5th place, the boys reenergized themselves for a match up against a heavy hitting Kelowna Kevlar team. In this game, coaches Chris and Kyley noticed a substantial improvement in the boys’ commitment to the team’s defensive play and the team was able to claw out a victory in another closely contested three set match (25-16, 23-25, 15-9). Doubling their total amount of wins accrued from day one of the tournament, the Apex Express looked to finish their tournament off on a high note hoping to revenge a loss that the Victoria Volleyball Association had dealt to the boys in their first match up in round-robin play. The Express were able to minimize their errors, played scrappy defense and scuffed out their first 2-0 win of the season. The coaches were impressed by the team’s ability to claw back from a 16-11 deficit in the second set to come back and steal the set 25-23.

The Express finished their weekend at .500, winning 4 out of their 8 matches and winning 11 sets while dropping 10 sets to finish a season high 5th out of 11 teams. Captain Adam Frederickson was able to battle back from illness he had sustained earlier in the week and distributed the ball well to middle-hitters Mark Penner and Lucas Chang who were able to get timely kills. Outside-hitters Alvin Liao and Phillip Troung lead the team defensively with their consistent passing and defensive play. Improved communication and defensive play from rightside, Eric Lin helped with the team’s transition game while Eric Zhang was able to get the team rolling with excellent serving. The coaches were impressed with the utility of Kelvin Wu coming off the bench and playing wherever needed. The boys now have two weeks to work hard in practice before looking to improve on the success of their last tournament.

The 18U Flex finished in a tie for 3rd with wins against Victoria 17/18U (2-0), and Victoria 18U (2-1), and losses to top ranked Focus Pounders (2-0) and Focus Fire (2-1). Flex boasts one of (if not) the fastest offenses in the province and found that it was quite effective against bigger teams at this tournament. Some fine tuning throughout the season should lead to a successful one for our most senior group.

The 17U Klutch finished in 5th place, defeating Air Attack 17U (2-0), splitting matches with Victoria 18U (2-1 round robin loss, 2-1 playoff win), and a loss to Air Attack 18U (2-1). Coach Blair used a variety of lineups to try to find the right mix of skill, size, and energy throughout the day. Setter Ryan Mew was selecte by Blair as “Player of the Day.”

The 17U Concussion, who battled through tough injuries and unavailable players (and coaches), finished in 7th, beating Air Attack 17U (2-1) and Victoria 17/18U (2-0), and losses to Air Attack 18U (2-1) and Focus Pounders (2-0). With all 4 power hitters missing from action by the end of the day (Brandon Chin: personal matters; Simon Dang: illness; Fabian Eppard: injury; Joshua Wong: injury), the team coped with 2 rightsides playing leftside, and a middle playing rightside to come back from 1 set down and 5-0 down in the 3rd and deciding set against Air Attack to win 15-13. Props to Daniel Ieong and Markiel Simpson for playing out of position and stepping up when needed.

The playday, along with getting the 3 teams getting some playing time against other clubs, served another purpose: the provincial championships will be hosted at the same facility on the last weekend of April. Getting accustomed to sightlines and lighting will hopefully give our Apex guys an advantage come the most important tournament of the year.

The quarterfinals saw a rematch vs. the Ducks, whom Assault had lost to in pool play. A slow start really cost the girls a chance to compete with the eventual 2nd place finishers in the tournament. Having to win their next match to continue playing, Assault faced an incredibly difficult matchup vs. Kelowna. Despite the odds being stacked against them, the girls played their best match of the tournament to dismantle the girls from Kelowna in two straight sets. The last match of the tournament had Air Attack standing in the way of a 5th place finish. Air Attack took the first set but Assault battled back in the second set. The third and deciding set went right down to the wire but unfortunately, the girls came up short 15-13.

Having finished 6th, the girls know that they can compete with some of the top teams in the province and look forward to the next Super Series in Nanaimo. A big thank you to all the family and fans that came out to support the team!

Tony and Robyn

- Coach Amanda

The gold medal match brought us up against a tall team from the Yukon. However, Apex Assault surpassed all expectations and easily defeated the team 25-7 in the first set and 25-15 in the second. The team proudly brought home the gold medal to Vancouver. The coaches (Tommy Li and Robyn Leuty) are extremely proud of this team and their accomplishments this year, as it wasn’t easy to learn to play together as a team with individuals who have only played on opposing sides of the net in the past. Thank you girls for an awesome season!