They may have missed out on one of their season goals, but they scratched another one off their list and are in position to contend for the third goal.
The Langley Fundamental Titans took care of the second of those three goals on Monday night, knocking off the Pacific Academy Breakers 3-0 (25-18,25-21,25-23) to win the first-ever Fraser Valley senior girls AA volleyball championship banner in school history.
The match was played at the Langley Events Centre and was a sweet measure of revenge for the Titans as two weeks ago, the Breakers earned top spot in league play with a straight-sets victory over Langley Fundamental.
The Titans were second at 8-1 while Pacific Academy won the regular season title at 9-0.
“Our girls were a little overwhelmed, they had a big crowd there,” said Titans coach David Carrasco, of the match played two weeks ago at Surrey’s Pacific Academy.
Part of the problem is the heated rivalry between the two schools.
“I think they just had built it up a little too much in their heads and they played more comfortable (in the Fraser Valley final),” he said.
“It just seemed much different watching the team compared to when they played (Pacific Academy) the first time.”
The Titans were led by most valuable player Brie O’Reilly as well as all-stars Kim Bauder and Ali Johnson.
Carrasco did admit that the Breakers were missing a key player to injury.
“(Chloe Stone) is a significant piece so I am not going to say we beat them at full strength,” he said.
But they will take the win and use it as momentum heading into next week’s B.C. AA provincial championships. The tournament runs Nov. 28 to Nov. 30 at Pacific Academy.
Langley Fundamental began the season ranked 10th in the province and had risen to as high as No. 2. They were knocked down after losing to Pacific Academy a couple of weeks ago, but should reclaim that ranking heading into provincials.
Carrasco knows his team is in tough, but expects them to contend for a medal.
To prepare for the task, they have consistently faced AAA and AAAA ranked teams throughout the season, holding their own and winning against some of the province’s bigger schools.
“There are a lot of tough teams and teams that we haven’t even played yet,” he said.
But this Titans squad knows what to expect, especially considering many of the current players were on the junior team two years ago which lost in the provincial gold medal match to South Delta.