The future of girls volleyball at Vernon’s W.L. Seaton Secondary looks bright.
The senior squad competes this week at the B.C. AAA high school girl’s championships in Powell River, and the junior girls finished fourth at the weekend’s provincial championship tournament in Surrey, one of, if not, the best-ever placings for a Seaton junior girls’ team.
“This is a huge accomplishment for us,” said Seaton co-coach Alyson Lypchuk, joined on the bench by Janelle Robertson. “The girls played solid volleyball all weekend and, once again, showed they have as much mental stamina as they do athletic ability.”
The Sonics, ranked eighth entering the 24-team event, went 1-1 in pool play, beating South Delta (Madie Gardner chosen Seaton’s game star) but losing to Vancouver’s Notre Dame (Runa Howard game star). Seaton then beat Nanaimo District 25-17, 25-17 (Morgan Boisvert game star) in a pool crossover game to secure a spot in the top-16.
On Day 2, the Sonics beat Langley Christian 25-13, 25-17 (Novah Gardner game star) to advance to the quarterfinals, where they faced Okanagan rivals Kelowan Owls. Seaton lost the opening game, 25-16, won the second set 26-24 and went on to win the deciding game, 15-10 (Iseult Colclough game star).
Seaton lost its last two games to Semiahmoo of White Rock (Holly Keyton game star) and Pacific Academy of Surrey (Makenna Lane game star) to finish fourth.
“The girls continually pushed themselves and worked together as a team, in particular in the high energy quarters against KSS, the team who beat us in the finals at Valleys,” said Lypchuk. “We were the only non-Surrey team to finish in the top-four. I could not be more proud of these 12 girls. All of them contributed all season long and never gave up on themselves or their teammates. This was a truly special group of young women.”
Libero Runa Howard was named to the provincial first all-star team and power hitter Morgan Boisvert was named to the second team.
* The senior Sonics are joined by the Vernon Panthers at the 16-team B.C. AAA championships starting Thursday in Powell River.
Seaton will play the College Heights Cougars of Prince George, Little Flower Academy of Vancouver and the Timberline Wolves of Campbell River in preliminary round action on opening day.
The Panthers are grouped with the defending champion Crofton House Falcons of Vancouver, Carihi Tyees of Campbell River and the Robert Bateman Timberwolves of Abbotsford, and will play all three teams Thursday.
* The Vernon Christian Royals will play four preliminary round games Thursday and Friday at the B.C. High School Senior Girls A Championships in Nanaimo.
The Royals will take on the Elkford Celtics, Southpointe Academy Titans of Tsawwassen and Ecole Jules Verne Albatross of Vancouver Thursday in the round-robin of the 20-team event, then finish off the first round Friday against the Campbell River Christian Cougars.
