The Coast Thunder ran into stiff competition last weekend in North Vancouver. Hoping for a top five finish, things didn't materialize for the Thunder and they finished 10th at the 2006 club volleyball provincials in North Vancouver.
The Thunder was in the toughest pool with the number one ranked team. Thunder was ranked ninth and the ninth place team. At the last moment, the fourth team in the pool, who were ranked 16th, dropped out. That meant that each team in the pool had to play best three out of five matches instead of two out of three.
"Our first game was against High Altitude and we just couldn't put our game together for that match, losing 3 to 1," said coach Jan Richey. "Every game was close, but things were just not clicking for us."
Next up was number one ranked Mill Bay Breakers.
Richey said things were going well and they pushed the Breakers to five sets. That's when things took a turn for the worse.
"There was a scramble at the net and Kyla [Richey] came down on someone's foot and rolled her ankle," said Richey. "We carried her off the court. It was very difficult to rally back after this so we ended up losing. We then had to play our first playoff match right after that against Prince George. The girls were upset and worried about Kyla and couldn't get their focus."
Thunder lost two straight, which put them in the bottom half of the draw.
On Sunday, Thunder rallied and played a good match against Apex.
"The players stepped up their game and the team played as a team," said Richey. "Angela Moore took over as captain and played very well. Kellie Gibson was a real force on the power side as well as Kasandra Mackenzie. Everyone played well."
Thunder won the match in two decisive sets and then faced High Altitude again for ninth place.
Richey said it was an excellent match with great rallies, but Thunder lost in two close sets to settle for 10th place.
"We were aiming high for the weekend. I was hoping for gold, but things just didn't work out," said Richey. "Losing Kyla was tough for the team to overcome, but they played hard and fought right to the end."
Richey said the team now has to re-group and get ready for the nationals, which take place in three weeks in Abbotsford. She's also hoping Kyla will be healthy as she has U20 nationals in Hamilton in two weeks. Besides practice time with the Thunder, Kyla has been travelling to Vancouver twice a week for the past three weeks for practices with the University of British Columbia (UBC) U20 team in preparation for the nationals. UBC qualified after finishing second to Trinity Western at the provincials in Kamloops last month.
Besides coaching the Thunder, Richey has also started coaching a bantam boys (Grade 8) volleyball team at Elphi.
The North Shore has wanted to get boys volleyball going again, so as a result, a four-team league has started up.
So far Elphi has won its first two league games against Seycove and West Vancouver.
