Kelowna's T2 under-14 girls volley to silver at Nationals

Winning eight of nine matches, the T2 Volleyball Club of Kelowna claimed the silver medal at the recent National (Western Canada) U14 girls championships in Richmond.

A 2-1 loss to the Cats Gold of Brandon, Man. in the Tier 1 title match of the 80-team event was the only blemish on the T2 Crew’s record among teams from throughout Western Canada at the Richmond Oval.

The Crew opened the final with a 25-20 victory in the first set but dropped a 25-20 decision in the second before falling 15-11 in the tense deciding set to the No. 1-ranked team from Manitoba.

In semifinal play, the T2 Crew fought back from a 25-5 opening-set loss to Canada West Black of Calgary to win the second game 25-19 and waltz to a 15-5 victory in the third set. Quarter-final action saw the Crew again drop the first set 25-22 to the Junior Bisons Gold of Manitoba while bouncing back for 25-20 and 18-16 wins to advance to the semis.

Earlier, the T2s began their drive to silver by sweeping matches in round-robin and power-pool play.

The loss in the championship match in Richmond was just the second all season for the T2s, who finished first among 32 teams at the Langley Super Spike tournament in and first at the 27-team Okanagan Super Spike in Kelowna in March before winning the Okanagan Regional Championship held in Kelowna in April.

Ranked No. 1 going into the provincial championships in Abbotsford April 25-28, the T2 Crew lost their only other match of the season in quarter-final play to B.C. Ducks and went on to finish fifth.

The T2 Crew, coached by Tammy Thomas, is made up of players from throughout the Central Okanagan. Keira Lidstone, Havana Martinez and Sophia Vicaretti attend Dr. Knox Middle School; Sylvie Boschman, Isabella Dreger and Calista Cencig are at Aberdeen Hall Prep School; Arewyn Rae is at Kelowna Christian School and Grace Blaskovits is a student at Const. Neil Bruce Middle School.

Coach Thomas said it was the first time an Okanagan team had reached the final of a Western Canada championship and she expects similar results in the future.

“With volleyball continuing to grow in Kelowna and more kids training at a high level, we hope more teams from the Okanagan will be competing for Western Canadian and National titles,” she said, adding that this year the T2 team was a surprise contender.

“No one really knew about the T2VB team and where we had come from, but now you can bet people know who we are. After getting a taste of Western Canadian championship match, we will be working hard over the coming months — on the beach and indoors — to get back and win gold.”