Vernon Panthers, Vernon Royals top pool positions at BC volleyball

Vernon Panthers, Vernon Royals top pool positions at BC volleyball

Published 10:00 am Friday, November 28, 2025

Vernon Christian School Royals and the host Vernon Panthers topped their round-robin pools Thursday, Nov. 27, as provincial high school volleyball championships began.

SENIOR BOYS A

In Abbotsford, the second-ranked Royals topped the Power Pool A, featuring the 16-team tournament’s top-four seeds with a record of 2-1.

The Royals, coached by Chris Bannick and Jesse Zuidhof, began the tournament with a 25-15, 25-16 win over the third-seeded Ebenezer Auroras of Smithers.

Then came a rematch of the Okanagan Valley championship, and the fourth-ranked Kelowna Christian School Knights exacted revenge on the Royals,winning in three sets, 22-25,25-19, 15-12. The Knights, however, went 1-2 in the preliminary round, losing to Ebenezer and the host St. John Brebeuf Bears.

The Bears are the tournament’s No. 1 seed, and, in what could have been a preview of Saturday’s gold-medal game, the Royals bounced back from the defeat to Kelowna Christian to sweep the Bears, 30-28, 25-15.

For topping their pool, Vernon Christian had a date with a fourth-place pool team in the round of 16 Friday morning in the form of the Duncan Christian Chargers. The Royals advanced to a Friday quarterfinal at 4:30 p.m. with a straight set 25-20, 25-19, 25-16 victory over the Chargers.

Vernon Christian will play either the Unity Christian Flames of Chilliwack or the Regent Christian Academy Royals of Surrey in the quarters.

SENIOR GIRLS AAA

The B.C. AAA tournament is being hosted at Vernon Secondary School (with games also being played at Fulton Secondary and Kalamalka Secondary in Coldstream).

The tournament host and Okanagan Valley runners-up Panthers went 3-0 in Pool B Thursday.

Vernon, coached by Mike Bertam,Cory Hoard, and Allie Bertram, are the tournament’s sixth seeds. They opened with a 25-27, 25-15, 22-20 victory over No. 7 York House Tigers of Vancouver. The Cats followed that up by sweeping eighth-seeded Esquimalt Dockers 25-16, 31-29, and completed the pool with a 25-18, 18-25, 15-11 decision over the fifth-ranked College Heights Cougars of Prince George.

The Okanagan champion Seaton Sonics of Vernon, ranked fourth, had a rough opening day in Power Pool A against the tournament’s top-three seeds.

The Sonics, led by coaches Jay Jackson, Coralee Hamilton, and Melaina Ovington, began the B.C.’s with a 21-25, 16-25 loss to the top-ranked Point Grey Greyhounds of Vancouver.

Seaton then fell 16-25, 14-25 to the second-seeded Holy Cross Crusaders of Surrey, and completed opening day with a 17-25, 23-25 loss to the third-ranked Crofton House Falcons of Vancouver.

Both Vernon schools play at VSS in round of 16 action at 11 a.m. Friday, Nov. 28.

The Panthers take on the MEI Eagles of Abbotsford, who finished fourth in their pool Thursday, while the Sonics will battle the McMath Wildcats of Richmond, who won their preliminary pool.