From turmoil sometimes excellence emerges – or at least a great experience.
The Moscrop senior boys volleyball program were nearly late to the party but once there, they arrived. It’s been near excellent ever since.
Without a coach and thus a team just weeks before the Burnaby-New Westminster season was to begin, the Moscrop Panthers found a qualified skipper in the nick of time and have been rolling ever since.
When Kevin Giang stepped forward to steward the team, the players gelled. The boys bonded like family, remarked the coach, and stayed that way.
“Our focus this year was for the boys to just have fun, act as if they’re all family and to play their hearts out,” said Giang.
They cruised through much of the regular season, winning their first three games without surrendering a set before taking to the court against the rival Burnaby South Rebels a month ago missing five players, including key starters Aleks Ristic and Eric Son.
The Rebels capitalized for a 3-1 victory, handing the Panthers their first test and setback.
When the regular season ended, Moscrop, Burnaby South and Burnaby North all had equal 4-1 records and faced a quick playoff to sift through to find the survivors for the Lower Mainlands.
Reclaiming the momentum they had established to start the season, Moscrop blanked both New Westminster and Burnaby North to capture the league banner and an advantageous seeding in the Lower Mainlands.
With a top-four spot guaranteeing a berth to the AAA provincials in Langley, the Panthers meticulously went about their business, beating both Prince of Wales and David Thompson by 3-0 scores. Up against the Van Tech Talismen in the final, the Panthers travelled the gamut of experiences in a nail-biter of a final series.
Van Tech opened with a thrilling 28-26 win, and moved ahead 2-0 with a 25-16 decision. With their backs to the wall, Moscrop peeled off two wins by identical 25-18 scores and forced a fifth set, where the Panthers led 8-7 at the midpoint. The Talismen rallied and reversed the momentum to claim the title 15-11.
Moscrop’s Ben Truong joined Ristic on the Mainland all-star team.
At next week’s Big Kahuna B.C. AAA championships, the Panthers will compete in a pool featuring Oak Bay, Centennial and No. 6-ranked Earl Marriott. The tourney begins Wednesday at the Langley Events Centre.
“Our biggest strength is that we have reliable outside hitters, (Ristic) being our best player by quite a bit as our first power,” said Giang.
“The team formed an ‘ohana’ (Hawaiian term for family) over the past few weeks and that (is) one thing the boys are proud of.”
