The story below was published in the Peak on May 13, 2000.
A Powell River boys volleyball team surprised the field by taking the provincial volleyball top spot.
Bantam boys-Powell River Wildcards (14 years)-travelled to Kelowna for the 12-team tournament. They returned home with gold medals around their necks.
Powell River started off with an easy victory over the Prince George Predators, 25-4 and 25-7. Prince George has a strong volleyball tradition, sending three teams to this tournament.
The second match was against the solid Richmond Eagles. Although set one went to Richmond 25-19, the local boys rallied back to take the second 25-16, only to lose the third set 15-11.
In the final game of round robin against Kelowna Westside, the local boys came out flat, dropping set one 25-9. Coach lan Scherck settled their nerves for the second set, which Powell River took 25-18. But they fell short again in the third set. The round-robin record of one win and two losses put them into a disappointing third place in their pool.
Showing a great deal of character, the boys came out strong in the first game of playoff matchups, defeating the Kelowna Knights 25-18 and 25-16 respectively, ending their first day of competition on a positive note.
Their first opponent on Sunday was the much-touted LLV team, made up of boys representing the three communities of Lavington, Lumby, and Vernon-first-place finishers in their pool. This team was expected to win the provincial title.
Powell River boys came onto the court with fire their eyes, looking focused and confident. All aspects of volleyball play were executed-mixing of plays and keeping the opposition unnerved, ultimately stunning LLV with a victory in two sets.
The semi-final matchup was against the BC Olympics team from North Vancouver. The boys trounced BCO in two matches.
Powell River met Prince George in the gold-medal game.
Powell River came out of the blocks extremely strong. Prince George was never able to recover from the psychological impact. Powell River took the first set 25-15.
Prince George showed they were not to be underestimated. They started the second set with several unanswered points. Powell River's pass and set broke down. Prince George took the set 25-22.
The winning point in the gold-medal game was a brilliant and powerful ace serve by Eric Morris that left Prince George standing, shaking their heads in disbelief. Powell River claimed the win with an impressive 15-9 score. The Powell River boys had come essentially from nowhere in round-robin play to be the top club team in BC.
All members of the 10-man squad demonstrated steady and consistent play when it counted. Uki Gochnauer and Eric Padley shared setting duties and both were consistently strong with serving form: Key digs out of the back court were accomplished by Ryan Bennett, Tyler Hodges and Jorge Vasquez.
Nick Cheetham was strong at off-side power and Richard Harborne consistent with back-court digs and passing, as well as serving. The team was particularly proud of Reto Camenzind who, despite being two years younger than the other team members, gave a clinic on serving technique with each effort.
However, the infamous "twin towers" of Eric Morris and Ben Rahier stole the show, intimidating team after team with deadly power shots. Both Morris and Rahier earned well-deserved recognition, being named as members of the tournament all-star team.
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