The Riverside Rapids fell just short of knocking off the province's top-ranked girls volleyball team at the 14th annual Red Serge Classic.
The Rapids put a scare into the No. 1-ranked South Delta Sun Devils, who held off the hosts 26-24, 21-25, 15-12 in Saturday's final.
"We've struggled with inconsistent play all year. We've showed moments of really great team play and then we've had moments where we just fall apart," said Rapids coach Bryan Gee. "The kids were resilient this weekend and showed mental toughness and courage. We don't rely on one or two players, we really need a team effort to be successful."
Riverside advanced to the finals with a 25-23, 21-25, 15-11 win over Earl Marriott (Surrey) in the semifinals. The quarterfinals saw Riverside down Pinetree of Coquitlam 25-13, 25-22.
The Rapids compiled a 3-1 record in the round robin, stopping Lord Tweedsmuir 25-17, 14-25, 15-13, getting past Handsworth 25-13, 25-18 and edging South Kamloops 18-25, 26-24, 15-10. The Rapids lone loss again came at the hands of South Delta 18-25, 22-25.
The tournament featured a who's who of some of the province's top girls volleyball teams, and the strong showing by the No. 8-ranked Rapids opened a few eyes.
"They're a young team that this weekend learned how to string together consistent efforts over a long period of time," said Gee, adding that only one Grade 12 player sees the floor regularly with the Rapids.
"We didn't just perform well for one time. We performed well for the entire weekend and that showed a huge learning curve for our kids in terms of how to compete and how to be consistent over a long period of time in intense competition."
Pinetree put up a fight in every round robin contest but could only pull out a single win, 17-25, 25-20, 15-13 over Penticton. They lost to Pacific Academy 21-25, 25-21, 13-15, dropped a 23-25, 25-19, 13-15 match to Earl Marriott and fell 25-27, 24-26 to Kelowna. Pinetree earned a spot in the quarterfinal with a 15-25, 25-23, 15-10 win over Handsworth.
Taryn Toscani of Riverside and Pinetree's Emily Maglio were named tournament all-stars while Nicole McNamura of South Delta picked up MVP honours.
Riverside plays host to the north zone championships this week, with the boys and girls championship both slated for 5:15 p.m. Thursday. The Fraser Valley Championships will go Nov. 18 and 19 at the Langley Events Centre. The district junior championships are being held at Centennial secondary in Coquitlam, with the girls final going at 6 p.m. Wednesday and the boys taking the court at 7:30 p.m.
