Burnaby North's junior boys' volleyball team placed ninth at the B.C. High School provincial championships held in Abbotsford this weekend.
The Vikings came first in their pool with victories over Kelowna Secondary, the eventual silver medalists, Elgin Park and Delta.
After a tough loss to Earl Marriott in the opening championship round, the team went on to defeat College Heights, Mount Boucherie and finally defeated No.3-ranked Reynolds 28-26, 25-22 to win the consolation playoffs and place ninth overall.
"The team only had one loss at the provincials, but it was the wrong match," said North coach Barton Lim of the first-round championship game.
North came into the provincials bitten by the injury bug and was forced to play without their starting setter and team captain Erick Chou and starting middle Ryan Li.
Host Mennonite Educational Institute won the provincial banner.
Individually, Ryan Wong placed second in the passing portion of the skills competition, while middle blocker Caleb Tam received honourable mention recognition in the all-star category.
Last week, the North team won the Vancouver and District championships, defeating McRobert 3-0 in the semi-finals before sweeping Steveston-London in three straight sets in the championship finals.
Tam and power hitter Aaron Zhang were named to the V&D all-star team.
Sign up for club
The Focus Volleyball Club is looking for boys and girls born from 1995 to 2000 for the upcoming club season. Tryouts will take place in the first week of December. Please go to www.focusvolleyball.com for more information.
