Mississauga Pakmen are the kings of volleyball in Canada.
This past weekend in Ottawa, the Pakmen captured the biggest prize in the club's history, winning the Under-18 Men's National title in an exciting final against last year's champions, the Manitoba Bisons.
"It doesn't get any better than that," said Pakmen coach Kelly Smith, whose club won 25-16, 23-25, 15-13. "The U-18 is one of the hardest championships to win because it's usually dominated by teams from the west.
"There are a lot of university coaches in that age group and the Bisons never lose."
But they did this time.
The Pakmen, who went into the championship tournament ranked 20th out of the 40 teams in their division, lost to the Bisons in round-robin play. But they made up for it in the final.
The Pakmen were 4-2 after round-robin play.
"We knew we only had to finish second in order to move on," said Smith.
Mississauga beat Winnipeg two games to one in the semi-final to set up the rematch against the Bisons.
The Pakmen, injury-riddled all season, got setter Jessy Satti back from a four-week absence because of a separated shoulder. He was in the lineup for the gold medal game and played through the final with a broken ankle.
Until the national championship triumph, the biggest event the under-18 squad had won was the Can-Am tournament in Buffalo last January.
Mississauga's Terrell Bramwell was named most valuable player in the tournament.
onlinenews@mississauga.net