Burnaby North and Moscrop won their respective BNW high school senior volleyball playoff finals.
North was taken to a 16-point tiebreaker in the boys’ banner final in a thrilling match at home on Wednesday.
Moscrop defeated league runner-up North in the senior girls’ championship final.
The Moscrop Panthers played inspired ball in the boys’ five-set matchup, taking the opening and third sets by scores of 25-23 and 25-22, respectively.
North rallied to tie the score in the second and fourth sets, winning 25-19 and 25-18.
But the tiebreaker was the best of the bunch, with Moscrop jumping out to a 6-1 advantage before North clawed its way back, tying the set 8-8 before trading points with the visitors the rest of the way.
North took the final point 16-14 on a game-winning block at the net by Johnson Hu.
“We’ve met these guys four times this season. We know each other very well,” said North captain Erick Chou. “I think we had a lot of confidence coming into this one.”
North needed that confidence.
Moscrop played with purpose all game long, getting strong blocking from Isaac Tai and terrific kills from Jerry Yan, in particular.
North showed their resilience against the pumped-up Panthers, coming back from close losses in the first and third sets to post strong second- and fourth-set scores.
Tom Sun and Aaron Zhang teamed up for the winning block in the second set.
Harry Suh got the set winning point to send the match to the tiebreak.
Devon Jones had a strong arm all game long for North.
“Every time we play (North) it’s within five points,” said Moscrop coach David Tam. “It’s a great matchup.”
Burnaby South defeated New Westminster to place third overall in the consolation match.
The boys’ Lower Mainland qualifying tournament will be held at Steveston-London in Richmond on Nov. 12, 13 and 15.
In the girls’ final, Moscrop swept North 3-0 to win a district banner for the fifth consecutive season.
The Panthers got solid swings from left sides Ernestine Tiamzon and Isabella Cheung, while team captain Lauren Hum controlled play from her setter’s position and Elianna Guo contributed timely digs.
Middle blocker Marija Bojanic typified the Moscrop effort, digging up a near-impossible tip and turning it into a transition point for the home team, said Panthers head coach Kim Or.
“I would say overall it was a complete team effort over the last two days, and we are looking forward to the Lower Mainlands next week,” said Or.
The Lower Mainland girls’ championships will be held Nov. 13 and 15 in North Vancouver.
In the girls’ consolation final, Mountain defeated New West.
Moscrop won the junior girls’ banner over Burnaby Central.
