By Gary Ahuja
Langley Events Centre
LANGLEY — Pool play is complete and the teams are ready for the knockout stage as the 3A and 4A tiers of the 2019 B.C. Secondary School Senior Girls Volleyball Provincial Championships got underway at Langley Events Centre on Thursday.
The teams for both tiers will play the round of 16 and quarter-final round on Friday.
QUAD A
It came down to the final match and a deciding set to determine who would win Pool A, and when the dust had settled it was the top-ranked Kelowna Owls surviving the upset-minded Claremont Spartans of Victoria to take the pool.
The Owls won 2-1 (25-21,22-25,17-15) to finish 3-0 and take Pool A. The Spartans were ranked 10th overall heading into pool play and finished second. North Delta’s Seaquam Seahawks and North Peace Grizzlies of Ft. St. John were third and fourth, respectively.
Vancouver’s Lord Byng Grey Ghosts were tops in Pool B after a perfect showing on opening day, winning all three matches and not dropping a single set along the way. The Dover Bay Dolphins of Nanaimo were second, the Sardis Falcons of Chilliwack third and the Burnaby Central Wildcats fourth.
Pool C saw Surrey’s Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers (seeded eighth overall but ranked No. 1 in the last provincial Quad A poll) edge the third-overall seeded Mission Roadrunners. The Van Tech Talismen were third in the pool and Coquitlam’s Pinetree Timberwolves fourth.
The Semiahmoo Totems of Surrey were tops in Pool D thanks to a 3-0 record which saw them win all six of their sets. PoCo’s Riverside Rapids did upset the Oak Bay Breakers of Victoria for second in the pool (the Rapids were the No. 14 overall seed while the Breakers entered as No. 7) and the Terry Fox Ravens of Port Coquitlam placed fourth.
Pool E also featured a shake-up in the second and third spots. The Handsworth Royals of North Vancouver won the pool but the South Delta Sun Devils (who had to win a wildcard qualifying spot just to make provincials and came in as the No. 15 seed) placed second in the pool ahead of the Surrey’s Elgin Park Orcas, the sixth overall seed. Kelowna’s Mt. Boucherie Bears were fourth.
TRIPLE A
All four top seeds won their respective pools on the opening day of the championship.
Vancouver’s Little Flower Academy Angels – the top overall seed – breezed through Pool A by winning all three matches without dropping a set (and only allowing a team to 20 points once in those six sets).
At 2-1, the South Kamloops Titans took second while the Chilliwack’s G.W. Graham Grizzlies and Hugh McRoberts Strikers of Richmond were third and fourth, respectively.
Last year’s silver medallists, Campbell River’s Carihi Tyees, were also a perfect 3-0 without dropping a set to win Pool B. Richmond’s R.A. McMath Wildcats finished second, Vancouver’s defending B.C. champion Crofton House Falcons were third and the Stelly’s Stingers of Saanichton came fourth in the pool.
The Dawson Creek Penguins were tops in Pool C, also going 3-0 without dropping a set. The Okanagan Mission Huskies of Kelowna took second in the pool, followed by the Prince George Polars and Surrey’s Salish Wolves.
And in Pool D, the W.L. Seaton Sonics of Vernon took first place with the Vernon Panthers, Duchess Park Condors pf Prince George and Prince Rupert’s Charles Hays Rainmakers finishing second through fourth.
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