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 out to be a very fine first-year winner. 

In fact he was later named U Sports (then-CIS) national Player of the Year as a fifth-year senior with the Trinity Western Spartans.

Ever since, as we did that first year, we have asked our B.C.-based U Sports men’s volleyball head coaches to cast their votes for B.C.’s Top 15 Grade 12 players.

This season, our winner is Abbotsford Christian’s UBC-bound outside hitter Cole Brandsma who was still early in his elementary-school days when Del Bianco got our parade of stars underway.

Today we welcome our 10th class of B.C.’s best:

No. 1 in our 2018 Super 15 countdown is B.C. AA tournament Most Outstanding Player Cole Brandsma. (Photo by Paul Yates property of Vancouver Sports Pictures 2018. All Rights Reserved)

1 Cole Brandsma

(click here to read our feature story on B.C.’s No. 1 player)

School — Abbotsford Christian

Height — 6-foot-6

Position — OH

Poll points — 45

Freshman’s Future — UBC

Van Tech’s high-flying Lachlan McBride led his Talismen top second place this season at the B.C. AAA championships. (Photo by Paul Yates property of Vancouver Sports Pictures 2018. All Rights Reserved)

2 Lachlan McBride

School — Van Tech

Height — 6-foot-6

Position — OH

Poll points — 42

Freshman’s Future — Queen’s

Matt Shand of Prince George’s College Heights Cougars is a prize recruit for the PacWest’s Douglas College Royals. (Photo by Wilson Wong property of UBC Athletics 2018. All Rights Reserved)

3 Matt Shand

School — College Heights (Prince George)

Height — 6-foot-2

Position — OH

Poll points — 33

Freshman’s Future — Douglas

4 Luke de Greef (30)

School — Lambrick Park (Victoria)

Height — 6-foot-5

Position — OH

Poll points — 30

Freshman’s Future — Undecided

Earl Marriott Mariners’ star Nick Prokopich poses with UBC head coach Michael Hawkins after being named MVP at the B.C. high school all-star game played last week at War. (Photo by Wilson Wong property of UBC Athletics 2018. All Rights Reserved)

5 Nick Prokopich

School — Earl Marriott (Surrey)

Height — 6-foot-4

Position — middle

Poll points — 29

Freshman’s Future — Undecided

6 Caleb Kastelein

School — Langley Christian

Height — 6-foot-4

Position — OH

Poll points — 26

Freshman’s Future — Undecided

Aaron Voth of North Vancouver’s Windsor Dukes will pack his bags this summer for Kelowna and a U Sports’ career with the UBC Okanagan Heat. (Photo by Wilson Wong property of UBC Athletics 2018. All Rights Reserved)

7 Aaron Voth

School — Windsor (North Vancouver)

Height — 6-foot-6

Position — OH

Poll points — 22

Freshman’s Future — UBC Okanagan

Luke Tiegen of the MEI Eagles led his Abbotsford-based team through a dramatic B.C. tournament run which ended earlier this month at the LEC. (Photo by Paul Yates property of Vancouver Sports Pictures 2018. All Rights Reserved)

8 Luke Tiegen (20)

School — MEI (Abbotsford)

Height — 6-foot-8

Position — middle

Poll points — 20

Freshman’s Future — UBC Okanagan

Moscrop Panthers’ star senior Ted Graveson took part in last week’s B.C. boys high school all-star game at UBC. (Photo by Wilson Wong property of UBC Athletics 2018. All Rights Reserved)

9 Ted Graveson (19)

School — Moscrop (Burnaby)

Height — 6-foot-1

Position — OH

Poll points — 19

Freshman’s Future — Undecided

Rhys Matheson of Vancouver’s St. George’s Saints was named a Top 10 talent by B.C.’s U Sports coaches. (Photo by Jon Hayduk property of St. George’s Athletics 2018. All Rights Reserved)

10 Rhys Matheson

School — St. George’s

Height — 6-foot-1

Position — LS/libero

Poll points — 16

Freshman’s Future — Undecided

11 Jordan Simpson

School — Mt. Baker (Cranbrook)

Height — 6-foot-8

Position — middle

Poll points — 14

Freshman’s Future — College of the Rockies

Summerland middle blocker Bailey Burdick tested his skills against the rest of the provincial elite during the B.C. high school all-star game held last week at UBC. (Photo by Wilson Wong property of UBC Athletics 2018. All Rights Reserved)

12 Bailey Burdick

School — Summerland

Height — 6-foot-5

Position — middle

Poll points — 13

Freshman’s Future — Undecided

13 Dayton O’Neill

School — College Heights (Prince George)

Height —Unavailable

Position — middle

Poll points — 11

Freshman’s Future — Undecided

Logan Wenzel of the Gulf Islands Scorpions is a member of Varsity Letter’s 10th anniversary edition of the B.C. Super 15. (Photo by Wilson Wong property of UBC Athletics 2018. All Rights Reserved)

14 Logan Wenzel

School — Gulf Islands

Height — 6-foot-3

Position — setter

Poll points — 10

Freshman’s Future —Undecided

Connor Piers (second right, 9) not only helped the Abbotsford Christian Knights to the B.C. AA title, he also claimed the final spot in Varsity Letters’ Super 15. (Photo by Paul Yates property of Vancouver Sports Pictures 2018. All Rights Reserved)

15 Connor Piers

School — Abbotsford Christian

Height —6-foot-4

Position — OH

Poll points — 9

Freshman’s Future — Undecided

Others receiving votes

Burnaby South senior Leonard Tesarik (right, 7) led the Rebels back to the B.C. AAA championships this season. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2018. All Rights Reserved)

Leonard Tesarik

School — Burnaby South

Height — 6-foot-6

Position — middle

Poll points — 8

Freshman’s Future — Undecided

Jackson Klassen

School — MEI (Abbotsford)

Height —Unavailable

Position — OH

Poll points — 7

Freshman’s Future — Undecided

Van Tech’s Karsten Neilsen-Roine on the attack at the B.C. AAA championships which wrapped up earlier this month at the LEC. (Photo by Paul Yates property of Vancouver Sports Pictures 2018. All Rights Reserved)

Karsten Nielsen-Roine

School — Van Tech

Height — 6-foot-3

Position — outside hitter

Poll points — 4

Freshman’s Future — Undecided

Gavin Payne

School — Delta

Height — 6-foot-1

Position — left side

Poll points — 2

Freshman’s Future — Undecided

Kris Laguardia

School — Vancouver College

Height — 5-foot-6

Position — libero

Poll points — 1

Freshman’s Future — Undecided

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