You can chalk up another strong showing by Ballenas Secondary School’s senior girls volleyball team, as they carved out a third place finish at the Timberline Wolves Halloween Classic in Campbell River over the weekend.
The Whalers went into the tournament ranked fifth in the province in AAA. If the Halloween Classic seemed a bit scary on paper it was for good reason, as it included five teams ranked in the top ten.
According to longtime skipper John Philip, the Whalers opened the tourney by beating Carihi from Campbell River 25-7, 25-11, then lost to Belmont from Victoria (20-25, 25-9,15-13).
“Outstanding performance by Alex Cloutier in the second set serving for 17 straight points,” said Philip, pointing to “some unfortunate serving errors and one momentum changing missed call by the official,” as the difference in that one.
Ballenas followed that up with a straight set loss (25-15, 25-18) to the Lambrick Park Lions to finish third in their pool.
The Whalers regrouped and hung on to beat the No. 3-ranked Hugh McRoberts Strikers from Richmond, 25-21, 20-25, 15-11.
Philip said in the first set, power hitter Megan Bell came off the bench to score three key kills to give the team the momentum to overcome a three-point deficit.
In the second set the locals “made too many errors but were able to rebound in the third set,” with key kills by hitters Cloutier, Jenna Pearce, and Hannah Hay.
In the semi final against Lambrick Park again, the Whalers came up short 25-23, 25-21, but showed they’ve come a long way since the start of the season.
The locals capped off the tourney by taking third and exacting some revenge over the Highland Raiders (who they lost to the previous weekend) by way of 25-14,15-25, 15-11 sores.
GAME ON
The Whalers are home this weekend at their annual Fall Classic. Action gets underway at noon on Friday and the playoffs go Saturday afternoon. — James Clarke
