The Elphinstone senior girls’ volleyball team started its 2012 season with a ninth-place finish at the Mizuno UBC Invitational tournament last weekend.

This tournament has 48 of the top teams from the province competing over the two days with three divisions. Elphi was ranked in tier two and began play on Friday against St. Thomas More Secondary from Burnaby, winning in three sets.

They then played Duchess Park from Prince George, winning in two sets and finishing round robin play against St. Thomas Aquinas from North Vancouver, winning in three sets.

Having finished first in their pool on Friday, they moved up to tier one on Saturday and played the first-place team from pool C, Kelowna Christian, who were single A provincial champions in 2011.

Elphi played very competitively with them, losing in two close sets.

Elphi went on to win matches against Surrey Christian, Kelowna Secondary and Cedar from Nanaimo to finish the tournament in ninth place overall, winning the consolation championship.

Michelle Jaksuk was an honourable mention on the all-star team.

“I was extremely pleased with how quickly the team came together over the weekend,” said head coach Jan Richey. “We have only been practising for two weeks as a team and each player has been working very hard in practice. I am excited to see how our season progresses and one of our team goals is certainly to qualify for provincials.”

Elphi has a number of home games scheduled this season, including Oct. 11 and Oct. 16 and would love to have good crowds out to support the team.

— Submitted