The College of the Rockies hosted five East Kootenay senior boys volleyball teams this past weekend. Fernie Falcons emerged on top, beating Mount Baker Wild two games to one in the final.

Sparwood Spartans defeated Prince Charles from Creston 2-1 in the bronze medal game. Selkirk Secondary finished fifth.

Tournament organizer and College of the Rockies men's volleyball coach Ian Halliday was happy with the event. "It went well. We're please with getting the local teams up to the college. That hasn't happened in awhile," Halliday said, "To have our guys [Cotr players] referee and interact with the high school players is great."

The Mount Baker Wild men's coach, Mike Martindale, was generally pleased with his team's result, despite losing in the final.

"The weekend was up and down for us," said Martindale, "We are a young team this year and it shows at times. However, it is early in the season and is to be expected."

Martindale points outs that volleyball is a mentally demanding sport and the moment you lose focus everything can go from bad to worse very quickly. "Our boys showed moments of continuous focus and it was very apparent," Martindale said, "Our best match of the weekend was in the final against Fernie, when we maintained focus on our side of the court we played very well. We played with a variety of lineups in the final and everyone who went in did some good things and showed individual moments of brilliance. Our team likes to utilize reflection time, they communicate with each other very well. This will make them successful this year."

Mount Baker Grade 12 power hitter Connor Hall believes the Wild will be strong this year, "Our team is really deep and strong. We have good, intense practices. All players are competitive and play hard."

Mt. Baker is the only AAA team in the East Kootenay and will have an automatic berth at provincials. The provincials take place November 26-29 at the UBC-Okanagan campus in Kelowna.

The Wild have an exhibition match against Fernie this Friday in Jaffray at 6pm. They then travel to Kelowna for the Best in the West Tournament on October 17 and 18. Baker's home tournament goes November 7 and 8.