The evening started out a little slow, but ended with a heart-stopping finale. Dives, pin-point serves, and pounding spikes all dominated a volleyball league playoff last week.
The Englefeld Eagles hosted the playoffs for the 2010 Horizon School Division Senior Boys' Volleyball North League on November 9.
In the first semifinal match of the night, the Muenster Cougars played Englefeld. Muenster finished in fourth place in the league with a 4-3 record, while Englefeld was first at 6-1.
Englefeld controlled the majority of play in both games, using their serving to push the Cougars to the back of the court. The Eagles also spread out their hitting, keeping Muenster guessing where the ball was going.
Englefeld won the first game 25-17 and won the second game 25-15.
In the other semifinal match, Annaheim took on Almightyvoice Education Centre (AEC) from Bellevue. This proved to be one of the more entertaining matches of the night as AEC used unconventional tactics, including a kicked ball, again and again to score points.
The Eagles countered with disciplined serving and some power hitting.
Despite AEC's best efforts though, Englefeld defeated them in two games on scores of 25-13 and 25-19.
The final saw Annaheim and Englefeld, two perennial rivals, face off one more time.
In the first game of the match, Annaheim cruised to an easy victory, defeating the Eagles 25-14.
In the second game, Englefeld took an early lead, but the Rebels fought back, tying the game at seven. After that, neither team gained a definite advantage.
In the end it came down to serving, and the Rebels used theirs to gain a 25-23 victory and the league title.
Annaheim coach Brian Fleischhacker said the last match of the evening showed the high level of skill attained by both teams.
"This was probably our best game of the season," he said.
The season itself went quite well for Annaheim, with the team winning one tournament, finishing second in three others, and third in two.
"We have a very young team, we have eight Grade 10s, and they've come a long way," he said. "They've improved every week."
Annaheim was headed to a Conference tournament in Invermay on November 13, as were Englefeld and Muenster. The top two teams from that tournament would advance to Regionals on November 20.
