The Moscrop Panthers became the first Burnaby school to make it to the final four at the B.C. high school AAA boys' volleyball championships.
The Panthers finished in fourth place at the provincials following a five-set loss to top-seed Fraser Heights in the bronze-medal final in Kelowna on Saturday.
Moscrop took the pre-tournament favourite to a tiebreak following games of 25-22, 22-25, 27-25, 23-25, before falling 15-12.
The loss was just the second for the Panthers at the provincials.
Earlier, Moscrop lost in straight sets to eventual champion Oak Bay in the semifinals at the UBC Okanangan university campus.
Grade 11 power Jerome Cross was a dominant force for the Panthers from both the front and back court, and was later named a first team tournament all-star. Cross and second-team all-star setter Zach Or kept opposing teams on their toes with powerful jump serves. Moscrop senior Marcus Jung was named the most outstanding libero.
"We'really proud of the boys and more importantly how much respect the team gained," said Moscrop co-coach Ed Chin. "The Oak Bay coaches ... said to us after our match ... about how much they respected our team because even though we weren't playing very well against Oak Bay, all our boys still had smiles on their faces when the match was going on just enjoying the moment. ... We felt really good about that."
Moscrop won its pool in the tournament power rankings, which groups teams together based on their respective ratings in provincial polls.
The No. 6-seeded Panthers defeated Mt. Boucherie in straight sets and Penticton 2-1 before upsetting No. 5-ranked Delta 25-16, 13-25, 15-7 in pool play.
Moscrop then took care of North Peace in a four-setter in the championship round to move into the quarter-finals against highly-ranked Earl Marriott.
The West Burnaby boys then upset the No. 4 Surrey school 25-22, 25-18, 27-25 to become one of just a small handful of Lower Mainland schools to ever reach a provincial AAA semifinal.
In 2009, Eric Hamber became the first Mainland zone school in almost 40 years to earn a medal since John Oliver won a silver medal back in 1971. Hamber finished with a bronze medal.
