Consider it four times unlucky for the Kelowna Owls.
For the fourth time in the last five years, the KSS boys volleyball squad has come up one gut-wrenching step short of winning the B.C. AAA senior boys’ championship.
On Saturday night in Langley in the gold medal match for 2016, the top-ranked Owls went the limit with the Semiamhoo Totems, before losing 16-14 in the fifth and deciding set.
Ranked No. 1 all season, the Owls settled for the silver medal, the same fate Mike Sodaro’s team was beset with in 2012, 2013 and 2014.
With KSS winning the second and fourth sets and losing the fifth by a mere two points, the finest of lines separated the Owls from that long-coveted gold medal.
“It came down to just a few points, it was a good battle,” Sodaro said of the final match, before reflecting on his team’s recent history at provincials.
“I just can’t believe it happened a fourth time.”
After a dominant regular season and Okanagan valley title, the Owls went into the provincials as the prohibitive favourites.
But as Sodaro and his teams have discovered in the past, there are no guarantees when a B.C. title is at stake.
“You set a high goal, but it’s pretty easy to set them,” Sodaro said. “It's lot harder to meet them.”
The Mt. Boucherie Bears, also representing the Okanagan and ranked 6th heading in, reached the consolation semifinals before losing to Oak Bay.
In the boys AA championship in Langley, the George Elliott Coyotes finished in seventh place.
4A girls…
The KSS Owls finished in eighth place at the B.C. AAAA girls volleyball championship in North Vancouver.
The Owls, ranked sixth heading into provincials, lost 2-0 to Mt. Baker in the 7th/8th place game.
In the final, Belmont defeated Handsworth.
AAA girls…
The host Okanagan Mission Huskies finished in 11th place overall at the B.C. AAA girls volleyball championship.
The Huskies defeated L.V. Rogers Saturday in the 11th/12th place game.
In the gold medal match, Little Flower Academy defeated Vernon Seaton 3-0.