The Riverside Rapids were unable to clinch a second straight provincial title.
The Port Coquitlam secondary school's senior girls volleyball team missed out on a podium finish at the 2022 B.C. AAAA championships after losing to South Delta 2-1 in the best-of-three bronze medal match on Saturday (Dec. 3).
As a result, the Rapids are returning to the Tri-Cities with a weekend record of 3-4 and a fourth-place finish out of 16 teams that qualified.
Simon Fraser University (SFU) commit Jayden Armstrong was named a first-team all-star for her provincials performance, while fellow senior Marcella Mahon was selected as the tournament's most outstanding libero.
Riverside, who also won the 2022 Fraser North regional banner, dropped one placing after entering as the third-ranked school.
After taking the first set 25-19, the Rapids found themselves in a back-and-forth second setcontest with the Sun Devils
The senior girls' quest for back-to-back blue banners came to a halt after falling 3-1 in the best-of-five semi-finals to Mount Boucherie Secondary (West Kelowna).
Before advancing, the Rapids had to rally from a 1-2 deficit in the quarter-finals on Friday (Dec. 2) to beat Kelowna Secondary. They also triumphed over Burnaby North in the Round of 16.
Riverside was placed with the top four teams going into provincials for pool play in determining their spot in the playoffs.
This included Mount Boucherie, Dover Bay and the Okanagan-Mission Huskies, who were the hosts, the number one-ranked school and the eventual 2022 provincial champions.
