The Churchill Bulldogs stole a set from the David Thompson Trojans Monday night at Kitsilano, but the No. 1 ranked team on the East Side held off the powerful Bulldog surge to win the on the first day of playoffs.
The Trojans won the senior girls city volleyball quarterfinal 25-23, 15-25, 25-15, 24-11.
"I'm not going to lie, I was pretty scared," said Trojans head coach Nelson Yu, whose experienced roster had only ever dropped two sets and maintained a perfect 8-0 regular season.
"I told them that you can't underestimate your opponent. No matter what seed they come in to the playoffs, you start 0-0 and everyone is fair game. They underestimated them."
Churchill is the No. 4 West Side team and in the quarterfinal, drew the best team in the East.
The Trojans couldn't pull away in the opening set and then crumbled in the second, missing passes, making errors and looking like distant cousins of the undefeated team they'd been.
"After that second set, they all realized we can't get past this with putting in a lackluster performance. We can actually lose this game."
Indifferent to their perfect record was Churchill's Bronte Spark. The five-foot-10 middle blocker was decisive on defence and as a hitter, had 10 kills in the first two sets.
Despite the tremendous challenge to the Trojans, the Bulldogs didn't have the stamina or experience to match, said Churchill head coach Eric Wong.
"They were a much stronger team than us but anyone can win on any given day - that's sports. I really felt that we had a chance to take it. When the second set was over, I thought that was the start. Sometimes it doesn't work out, sometimes it does," he said.
"We came into this game knowing that if we were going to win, it was not going to be a three-set victory. You could see during the game, their players focus on everything. You have to work for points to beat them and that's what makes it so hard. It's a testament to their coaches that every single player on the team gives 100 per cent on the court."
Playoffs continue this week at Kitsilano with the city championships scheduled for 5 p.m. Nov. 8.
In the other quarterfinals on Monday, Point Grey beat Templeton, Killarney beat Kitsilano and Van Tech downed Prince of Wales.
The senior boys city championships are playing all week at Magee with the championship match set for 6 p.m. Nov. 8.
In the first-round quarterfinals on Monday, Van Tech beat Tupper, Eric Hamber defeated Templeton, Magee beat Windermere and David Thompson beat Churchill.
Twitter: @MHStewart
