The U16 Blaze finished in seventh place at last weekend's Tier 1A provincial championships.
The Blaze, part of the Sunshine Coast Volleyball Club, were ranked fifth among 16 teams heading into the event.
On Saturday, the Blaze started with pool play against teams from Vernon, Kamloops and Chilliwack.
The Blaze started with a loss against a 13th ranked team from Vernon in a disappointing start for the team and coaches Quinn Campbell and Jan Richey.
In match two, the Blaze rebounded and played much better against 12th ranked High Altitude from Chilliwack.
"Our play was improving slowly, and we won a very close match, in three sets," said Campbell.
The final match of the day saw the Blaze lose in three sets to the Demons from the Kamloops Volleyball Club.
"They were ranked fourth in the province. We split both our previous matches with them," added Campbell. "Although our play had improved from the morning, we were still not playing even close to our best. Our rather uninspired play left us clinging to third place in our pool. This was not what we wanted, as it meant our playoff draw was much more difficult than if we finished first or second."
The first round playoff match put the Blaze up against the Coquitlam Ducks.
"We came out much stronger in this final match of the day on Saturday," said Campbell. "Our girls were very disappointed in their play earlier in the day and were determined to get back on track. After splitting the first two sets with the Ducks, our girls showed their grit and determination by pulling out a hard-fought win. We were finally playing like a team and performing like we belonged in this tournament."
In Sunday's quarter-finals, the Blaze met up with the top-ranked Fraser Valley Volleyball Club.
"Fraser Valley was by far the best team in the province this season and clearly dominated every match they'd played so far," Campbell said. "We knew we were in tough, but we also knew that we really had nothing to lose. Right from the very first point in the match, we were on our game. We knew that if we played our best, we could be competitive with any team in the province, and the girls finally started to believe that themselves."
The match went back and forth with Fraser Valley pulling out a 25-19, 25-21 win.
"The loss was very disappointing, but we showed that we could play with the best teams in the province," Campbell added.Now on the consolation side of the draw, Blaze again faced the Demons.
"After a long and exhausting weekend and a very disappointing loss to Fraser Valley, we never really regained our form of earlier in the day," Campbell said. "We played well and kept the match close but lost in three sets to the Demons once again. Our goal heading into the tournament was to place in the top five, so this result was not exactly what we'd hoped. Regardless, we showed that we belonged in the Tier 1A division and can take that confidence to the National Championships in Calgary in two weeks."
