The St. Ann's Academy Crusaders maintained their spot in the top 10 of the B.C. Single-A boys volleyball rankings this week. (Photo by Wilson Wong property of UBC athletics 2019. All rights reserved)
Feature High School Boys Volleyball

B.C. Boys Volleyball Rankings 10.24.19: Richmond’s McRoberts Strikers, Victoria’s St. Andrews Sabres the week’s big climbers

LANGLEY — Here are the latest B.C. senior boys high school volleyball rankings.Note — The B.C. boys volleyball commission will rank AAA and AA as Top 15 and A as Top 12.Here’s a look at all three tiers:TRIPLE A1 Earl Marriott Mariners (Surrey) (LW-1)2 Kelowna Owls (2) 3 Claremont Spartans (Victoria) (3)4 Mt. Boucherie Bears (Kelowna) […]

Kelowna's Jayden Lalonde (right) delivers at the net against Victoria's Claremont Spartans at the recent UBC Invitational. The Owls play host to this week's Best of the West showcase event. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Volleyball

B.C. Boys Volleyball Rankings 10.16.19: Fraser Heights, Riverside make their moves in AAA Top 10

LANGLEY — Here are the latest B.C. senior boys high school volleyball rankings.Note — The B.C. boys volleyball commission will rank AAA as Top 15, AA as Top 10 and A as Top 12.Here’s a look at all three tiers:TRIPLE A1 Earl Marriott Mariners (Surrey) (LW-1)2 Kelowna Owls (2) 3 Claremont Spartans (Victoria) (3)4 Mt. Boucherie […]

Ryan Brown, serving during the recent UBC Invitational, is one of Earl Marriott's band of volleyball brothers. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Volleyball

Earl Marriott boys volleyball: No. 1-ranked, defending AAA champion Mariners small in numbers, but huge in old-school heart

SURREY — If you were around the B.C. high school sports scene before the turn over the century, you saw perhaps the tail-end of what coaches these days lovingly refer to as “the old school way.”The times were certainly more innocent than they are today in terms of training, practicing and playing opportunities.Coaches like Dale […]

Senior hitter Jesse Lee and the rest of Port Coquitlam's Riverside Rapids maintained their spot in the B.C. AAA Top 10 rankings. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Volleyball

B.C. boys volleyball rankings 10.02.19: Eric Hamber, Langley Fundamental make big climbs but Marriott and MEI still atop the tiers

LANGLEY — The defending B.C. AAA champion Earl Marriott Mariners of Surrey retained the top spot at the province’s largest tier after suffering its only loss of the season thus far, in the championship final of the UBC Invitational last Saturday to Edmonton’s Harry Ainlay Titans. Meanwhile, Vancouver’s Eric Hamber Griffins defeated Abbotsford’s AA No. […]

MEI Eagles' Hunter Arulpragasam (left) and Tag Neufeld rise for a block against Lake Country's George Elliott Coyotes last Friday during the UBC Invitational at War Memorial Gym. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Volleyball

MEI boys volleyball: Multi-sport players, multi-experienced coach Olfert meld to lift Eagles into B.C. AA title contention

ABBOTSFORD — The 2019 edition of the MEI Eagles senior boys volleyball team has its fair share of standouts, and none of that is a surprise for the team which last week opened at No. 1 in the first B.C. Double A rankings of the new season.Senior Tyson Ardell spent the summer with Team B.C. […]

Surrey's Earl Marriott Mariners open the season at No. 1 in the first B.C. senior boys Triple A Top 10 rankings.The defending B.C. champion Mariners will play Friday and Saturday at the UBC Invitational. (Photo by Paul Yates property of Vancouver Sports Pictures 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Volleyball

B.C. Boys Top 10 Volleyball Rankings: AAA No. 1 Earl Marriott & AA No. 1 MEI each on stage this weekend at 32-team UBC Invitational

LANGLEY — The Earl Marriott Mariners, who open the new B.C. Triple A senior boys campaign as the preseason No. 1 team, would love to see history repeat itself.Last season, Surrey’s Mariners topped the Van Tech Talismen 3-0 in the B.C. AAA final at the Langley Events Centre.A victory this season would not only give […]

Trinity Western's Aaron Boettcher has put shoulder surgery and a missed 2017-88 season behind him, helping lead the Spartans back to the national championships which open a three-day run Friday in Quebec City. (Photo by Scott Stewart property of Trinity Western athletics 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Men's Volleyball

A better Boettcher? You bet! Trinity Western’s Aaron Boettcher older, wise, happier in his last trip to U Sports nationals

LANGLEY — Aaron Boettcher’s greatest skill had always been his ability to rise above the crowd and block out any obstacles that came his way.

Van Tech's Lachlan McBride, bound next season for an OUA career with the Queen's Golden Gaels, finished as the runner-up in Varsity Letters' 2018 Super 15 B.C. boys high school volleyball Grade 12 Players of the Year. (Photo by Paul Yates property of Vancouver Sports Pictures 2018. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Volleyball University Men's Volleyball

10th Anniversary Edition! Varsity Letters presents our 2018 B.C. senior boys high school volleyball Super 15

LANGLEY — Hard to believe that so much time has gone by since we announced our first B.C. senior boys Grade 12 high school volleyball Player of the Year back in December of 2009.In case you don’t remember, he stood 6-foot-4 and was a dynamic outside hitter from Surrey’s Fleetwood Park Secondary.Nick Del Bianco turned […]

The Earl Marriott Mariners spent a year trying to make amends for a B.C. semifinal loss last season to the Semiahmoo Totems. They arrived at their moment Saturday at the LEC. (Photo by Paul Yates property of Vancouver Sports Pictures 2018. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Volleyball

B.C. Boys AAA Volleyball Final: Mariners set their compass towards perfection, topple Van Tech en route to golden destination

By Gary Ahuja (Special to VarsityLetters.ca) LANGLEY — There is winning and then there is what the Earl Marriott Mariners did to the competition these past four days  at Langley Events Centre.

The Abbotsford Christian Knights found a way to be their best when it mattered most Saturday at the LEC. (Photo by Paul Yates property of Vancouver Sports Pictures 2018. All Rights Reserved)