A handful of Surrey junior volleyball teams are still in the running for a provincial championship, after strong showings at Fraser Valley tournaments earlier this month.
The junior girls championship, which was hosted by Semiahmoo Secondary Nov. 5-8, saw the Pacific Academy Breakers defeat the host Totems 3-1 (25-18, 20-25, 25-14, 25-20) in the gold-medal game, with Langley Christian finishing third after a victory over Cloverdale’s Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers.
Semiahmoo also lost to Pacific Academy in the final game of Surrey championships.
“I thought we played them better this time than we did in the Surreys,” said Semiahmoo coach Gord Houchen. “We played them hard. Hopefully, we’ll be able to knock them off in the provincials.”
All four teams advance to provincials, as will Fraser Heights Secondary, whose team placed fifth at Valleys, Houchen said. The provincial tournament – set for Nov. 22-24 – will be hosted by Earl Marriott Secondary, so the Mariners will also have a side in contention, as the host team.
Surrey will be well-represented at Kamloops-hosted junior boys provincials, as three teams – Pacific Academy, Fraser Heights and Elgin Park – finished in the top six at Fraser Valley championships. Pacific Academy finished second, losing the gold-medal game to Abbotsford’s MEI.
A pair of Pacific Academy players, Reese Rowland and Kyden Dmitruk, were named tournament all-stars.
In the junior girls tourney, Pacific Academy’s Talia Attieh was named most-valuable player, and all-stars were Nicola Billows and Laysha Tunti (Pacific Academy), Katherine Eckhart (Lord Tweedsmuir), Danae Vanderveen (Langley Christian), Izzy Forsyth (Semiahmoo) and Tara Wallack (Semiahmoo).
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