Easter weekend resulted in the Vernon Firehawks finding gold medals in their baskets.

The U17 girls club volleyball team took on all comers at the 2022 Volleyball BC U17 Girls and U18 Boys provincial championships at the Richmond Olympic Oval April 15-17, capturing the gold medal and dropping just one set in six matches.

The Firehawks began the round-robin with a 25-13, 25-10 win over the Raincity Rush of Cloverdale, then defeated the Fraser Valley Volleyball Club blue squad 25-14, 25-18 before finishing the preliminary round with its only blip, a three-set decision over the Vancouver Thunder Blue team, 21-25, 25-11, 15-6.

鈥淭hen came the playoffs and the girls were on a mission,鈥� said Vernon assistant coach Jay Jackson.

Vernon began the playoffs with a 25-14, 25-9 romp over the Campbell River Crush, then faced the second-ranked Ducks of Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam-Port Moody-Burnaby in the semifinals, coming out on top 25-14, 25-18.

The Firehawks faced Seaside Surf of South Surrey/White Rock for the gold medal.

The first play of the game started with a shanked pass, only to be followed by a side out and a serving run for the Vernon squad which resulted in an 11-1 Firehawks lead.

With strong cheering and support from the Vernon Sky Volleyball Club鈥檚 U18 boys team, Vernon finished off the first set, 25-14, and matched that scored in Set 2 to capture gold.

Aimee Skinner from Kalamalka Secondary in Coldstream was named the tournament鈥檚 Most Valuable Player while teammates Makenna Jackson of Seaton and Avery Keating of George Elliot Secondary in Lake Country were named to the first all-star team.

The head coach of the Firehawks is Ken Wandler, and he鈥檚 joined on the bench by assistants Jackson, Randy Duff and Cory Hoard.

Other players on the Firehawks include Hailey Duff, Kristen Francks, Charlie Calvert, Hillary Quiring, Abby Lawlor, Lauren Hoard and Sophie Bilodeau.

The Firehawks will now travel to Edmonton May 19-21 for the national club championships.

You can follow the team on their Facebook page for updates and live streams of their matches.

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