Elphinstone Secondary School senior girls' volleyball team is in Vancouver this weekend battling for a berth in the provincials.
Elphi finished the regular season third in the North Shore League and the top team in AA.
The Vancouver and District playdowns are this weekend. Elphi must finish either first or second to secure a berth in the provincials, which are set for Dec. 1 to 3 in North Vancouver. If Elphi finishes third this weekend, they will have to try to qualify in a wildcard tournament next week.
"We ended up in a three-way tie for second place in the North Shore League behind Handsworth, who went undefeated all season," said Elphi coach Jan Richey.
"With a tiebreaker they look at head-to-head games first. Because of that, we pulled the number four spot going into playoffs, which meant we played Handsworth in the semifinals. We had an amazing match against them last Wednesday, going to four games with the last game being 29-27. The coach from Handsworth said if we had ended up going five games with them, she thought we would have won. No team this year had been as close as we were to beating them.
"We then played Argyle who we had beat in league play when they were missing their two top players, so I was a little worried. We went to three games with them and beat them in the third 15-8. It was great volleyball and the team played so well."
On another note, Richey said the Sunshine Coast Volleyball Club, which will start up again after Christmas, is in desperate need of coaches for club volleyball at every level. Coaches are required for teams from 12 to 18 years old.
"They don't need a ton of coaching experience, just some knowledge of volleyball," said Richey.
For more information, call Richey, 604-885-3707.
