Six boys’ teams, and 22 girls’ teams vied for School District No. 46 volleyball honours last week, and it appears that the Roberts Creek dynasty may be subsiding.
New champions were declared in both tournaments.
At Elphinstone Secondary School, the teams started the day with a group photo with the Elphi senior girls provincial bronze medalists, along with the junior girls who also fared well at the provincials. It was this group of high school players who efficiently assisted in officiating and scorekeeping of the day’s games, and did a fabulous job.
In the girls ‘A’ flight, Ecole du Pacifique dethroned defending champs Roberts Creek, in easily the best game of the day, 25-20.
The Creekers were not shut out, however, as the Roberts Creek two squad defeated West Sechelt 25-17 in the ‘A’ flight consolation final.
In ‘B’ flight action, Langdale surprised Gibsons 25-13 in their final, while Cedar Grove one and the girls from Halfmoon Bay had a barn burner of a consolation final, where Cedar Grove eked out a 25-23 win.
In the youngest ‘C’ flight division, it hasn’t taken Barry Krangle long to put his stamp on the Madeira Park volleyball program, as the girls from the Harbour took home their first volleyball trophy in the last 42 years, beating Ecole du Pacifique 25-20. The Cedar Grove three girls defeated Gibsons in the consolation final.
Upsets were the order of the day in the boys’ district tourney, as the two-time defending champs from Roberts Creek cruised through the round robin undefeated in five games.
But in the first round of playoffs, it was Doug Detweiller’s feisty Gibsons squad who were ready to send him into retirement with a volleyball trophy tacked to his bike. The Gibsons boys played their best volleyball of the day in a 25-19 upset. Unfortunately, the Gibsons squad fell flat in the ‘A’ flight final against the Sara Schutz coached West Sechelt gang. Schutz had given the West Sechelt boys a lot of her time since most started in Grade 4 with her, and teacher Glen Smith stood in for her as she was unable to make the finals, but her boys had a 25-12 win for the first ‘A’ flight win in the school’s history.
The Roberts Creek boys bounced back and defeated the first-year Madeira Park boys 25-17 to take home the ‘B’ flight hardware.
Once again, the athletes, coaches and parent spectators would like to thank Elphi for giving up their gym for the day, as well as the Ecole du Pacifique for allowing the boys to take over the Sechelt Elementary School gym for their day.
— Submitted
