Both Moscrop and Burnaby North are on their way to the B.C. High School AAA boys' volleyball championships later this month.
Moscrop, the No. 1 Burnaby/New Westminster seed, placed third at the boys' Lower Mainland championships on Thursday with two-set victory over upstart North in the consolation final for third and fourth seeding heading into the B.C.s.
Vancouver No. 2 Vancouver Technical won the Mainland title, beating Vancouver champion Eric Hamber 3-1 in the final at McMath Secondary in Richmond.
Moscrop, playing without its injured captain Brandon Chin, took the opening game against North 25-21. The Panthers then went on a 10-0 run in the second set led by Jonathan Kum's decisive serving to sweep North by a 25-16 score.
Brandon Luu from North and Moscrop's Zachary Or were named to the all-tournament team following the competition.
In the semifinals, both Burnaby schools were in many ways unfortunate to not advance to the zone finals.
Moscrop lost a nailbiter to Hamber 24-26, 25-23, 25-23, 25-22, while North extended Tech to four games before losing a narrow 25-22, 22-25, 25-23, 26-24 scoreline.
At a crucial time in the third set, Chin hurt his ankle in the semifinal against Hamber.
"It's tough when you lose your P1. ... basically they (Hamber) were digging everything up and we just couldn't score on our transitional play," said Moscrop co-coach Kim Or.
North coach Allen Tsang was decidedly more upbeat with his team's performance at the Mainlands.
Drawing into the regional playdowns as the wild card, North upset Vancouver No. 2 Killarney 25-21, 25-20 to advance out of its pool on Wednesday.
The Viking boys then got by St. George's in four games to earn a spot in the Lower Mainland top four.
"I'm totally happy with these guys," said Tsang. "The kids were stoked. We were a team that did not look like they were going to the provincials at the beginning of the year."
Burnaby South finished behind St. George's and Hamber in pool play and did not advance.
The boys' provincials will take place from Nov. 30 to Dec. 3 in Kelowna.
