The U14 Tsunami had another solid weekend of volleyball, winning the consolation final at the Island Volleyfest in Nanaimo last weekend.
The tournament was held at three locations, Malaspina College, Nanaimo District Secondary School (NDSS) and John Barsby Secondary School. It featured 22 U14 teams and 12 U-13 teams in a two-day tournament.
On day one, Tsunami played three pool matches and one playoff round match.
Head coach Quinn Campbell said the team didn't play great on day one, but got some help.
"We started off playing BCO's -B team and split the two games, but we won on point differential," Campbell said. "They were a weaker team, but we played down to their level and made it frustratingly close. In our second match, we faced the NVC Express team and won both sets. We didn't play much better, but managed to scrape out the win. Our final pool match had us up against the Victoria Titans - provincial champs from last year. The way we were playing, they finished us in two quick sets."
Tsunami ended up finishing second in its pool with some help from the Express which took both sets from BCO.
Tsunami started the playoffs against the Victoria Volleyball Club Heathens, which finished fourth in their pool.
Campbell said it should have been an easy first round opponent, but Tsunami made it close, by hanging on for a 16-14 win in set three.
"Luck was on our side again, as the Ducks B-team took out the Mid-Island Breakers in the first round of the playoffs," Campbell said. "The Breakers came in second place in provincials last year, and are very strong again this year. Our quarterfinal match put us up against the Ducks. We played much better on Sunday and cruised through an easy straight set win over the Ducks."In the semi finals Tsunami faced the Campbell River Crush A-team. "They were a pretty good team with decent skills, but they simply served us off the court," he said. "Every player served hard low driving balls that really got us off our game. We didn't get settled at all in the match and they made pretty quick work of us. Somewhat disappointing as we could have given them a much better game, but we just never got anything going."
In the consolation final, Tsunami faced BCO's A-team - winners of the Six-Pack Sensation, held earlier this month.
"Although we didn't play our best and let them back into the match after taking a couple of leads, we won two straight and finished in third," Campbell said. "After an up and down weekend, it was a nice way to finish."
