Tournament MVP Danielle Groenendijk and the host Duncan Christian School Chargers took Aspengrove to three games in the Island single-A girls volleyball championship match last Saturday before ultimately settling for the silver medal.
Aspengrove won the opening game 25-23, but the Chargers came back with a decisive 25-19 win in the second set. The third and final game went to Aspengrove by a 15-11 final score.
“How can you ever really be pleased with second place?” DCS head coach Roger Kim wondered. “We’re happy we got silver, but it’s hard knowing we got that close to our goal.”
Groenendijk was named Island MVP for an incredible fourth year in a row, while fellow Chargers Meaghan Russell and Hannah Day were named first-team all-stars. Even though his team placed second, Kim wasn’t surprised that Groenendijk took home the top individual honour.
“It was no contest,” he said. “The girl is phenomenal. What she brings to our team is amazing.”
Groenendijk and Day are the only Grade 12s on the team, which also includes three Grade 11s, three Grade 10s, and one Grade 8.
“It’s a fairly young squad, so this experience for the younger girls is great,” Kim said. “They’re learning not just what it takes to win games, but to win championships. It was a close game in the final, and the girls really had to pull together.”
The top two teams from Islands both advance to the provincial tournament in Kelowna, and Kim suspected that his team might have fared better in the Island final with more on the line.
“They didn’t come with as much intensity as they did in the semifinal. Had they played the same as they did in the semifinal, I’m pretty sure it would have been a different outcome.”
DCS downed Nanaimo Christian 25-14, 25-20 in one semifinal, while Aspengrove got by Lake Cowichan 25-18, 25-16 in the other. Nanaimo Christian then defeated Lake Cowichan 25-13, 25-21 in the bronze-medal match, earning a chance at a wildcard berth in Kelowna.
St. Andrew’s beat Chemainus 25-14, 25-2 in the fifth-place match, Brookes Shawnigan and Victor Brodeur tied for seventh, Port Hardy beat Queen Margaret’s School for ninth place, and Maaqtusiis edged North Island Secondary for 11th.
Daniela Kinzel and Alexis Cage of Lake Cowichan, Jamie Wallace of Chemainus, Kim English of Brookes, and Kyra Gurski were named tournament all-stars.
The provincial tournament, hosted by Immaculata and Kelowna Christian, begins next Thursday, and Kim is hoping to finish high in the standings.
“My goal is a medal,” he said. “I want top three. I’m not quite sure what the girls want yet. I think we’ve got a fair chance. At single-A, it’s anyone’s tournament, whoever comes together best at the end of the year. If we go up there intense and play hard, that’s all I ask of them.”
