Wildcats overcome jitters to capture fourth straight Kootenay Championship
By The Nelson Daily Sports
For the for fourth straight season the Mount Sentinel Wildcats will represent the Kootenay zone at the BC High School A Girl’s Volleyball Championships.
The Wildcats dusted off the Fernie Falcons in straight sets during the best-of-five final to capture the zone title at the Kootenay High School A Girl’s Volleyball Tournament Saturday in Castlegar at Selkirk College Gymnasium.
Mount Sentinel defeated the Falcons 25-13, 25-13, 25-17.
“The tournament was not our best performance . . . we didn’t drop a set but we played like we had an elephant on our backs through the entire tournament,” said Mount Sentinel head coach Joe Moreira.
Mount Sentinel, the top ranked team entering the tournament, breezed through the round robin draw defeating Fernie, Friday in front of the student body at the South Slocan-based gymnasium, before getting past Boundary Central of Midway and Sparwood.
“Our best, but not real clean, was the final,” Moreira confessed.
This is the 36th time in 38 years Mount Sentinel has advanced to the provincial tournament.
The school twice failed to get out of the zone in 1997 and 2010.
It should be noted that in 2010 we lost to Fernie in five (games), but that team is just as memorable as all others and they worked just as hard,” Moreira explained.
“I am as proud of their commitment and work ethic as I am of the teams that have been provincial champions.”
In the 38 years, Mount Sentinel has hosted the provincials tournament 10 times, winning the BC crown four times and finishing second in three events.
The Wildcats have won the bronze medal seven times giving the school 14 provincial medals.
Moreira said the provincial ranking should be out sometime Monday.
He is expecting the Cats to be ranked third behind host Immaculata of Kelowna and Langley Christian.
The provincial tournament is being played November 27-29 in Kelowna.
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