The Lower Mainland made a breakthrough at the B.C. AAA high school boys' volleyball championships, but it was not Burnaby's time to shine.
Lower Mainland No. 3 seed Moscrop Panthers finished in a tie for 13th place, while fourth-seeded Burnaby North placed 20th at the AAA championships in Kelowna this weekend.
Lower Mainland champion Eric Hamber finished in fifth place, while zone runner-up Vancouver Technical placed in ninth spot.
Moscrop opened the tournament with an undefeated run in pool play, earning a spot in the championship round against eventual bronze medal winner Fraser Heights.
The pre-tournament No. 2 seed defeated the Panthers in straight sets, including a 28-26 loss in the middle set.
"At the end of the day, the strength of our team all season long has been our setter (Zachary Or) and the diversity of our offence," said Moscrop co-coach Ed Chin.
Playing with injured team captain and power hitter Brandon Chin in only a limited role, the Panthers relied mostly on junior power J.J. Cross and outside hitter Jonathan Kum for their offence.
Moscrop came back to defeat Semiahmoo 23-25, 25-19 and a nailbiting 2018 tiebreaker to finish 13th overall in the consolation placement draw.
Earlier in placement play, the Panthers lost a 15-9 tiebreaker against eventual 10th-place Elgin Park following a shocking 25-14 win in the opening set.
North had a harder time of it, dropping a 3-0 decision in the opening draw against Mount Baker.
The Vikings then took Reynolds to a third set before losing 2-1 in the placement draw.
Later, North fell to Delta 25-19, 22-25, 15-9 in its final match.
