The B.C. No. 1-ranked Mount Douglas girls’ team represents the latest chapter in a storied Vancouver Island tradition.
Some great ones have spiked and dug their way through the Island high school volleyball championships over the years, with Fred Winters, Jamie Broder, Martin Reader, Ann Ireland, Greg Russell and Tom Graham going on to represent Canada in the Olympics. Now former Oak Bay star Thana Fayad is on the NextGen women’s national team list looking ahead to Paris 2024 and Los Angeles 2028 qualifying.
The current high school generation states its case Friday and Saturday in the Island championships. Mount Douglas leads the way in the girls’ Triple-A tournament at Stelly’s Secondary through to the final at 1:15 p.m. Saturday.
“I love how our team competes. Everyone on the floor has the ability and desire to fight for each point,” said Derek Horton, who coaches Mount Douglas, along with Jim Smyth and Samantha Owen.
Team standouts include Grade 12s Giada Valentini and Lucy Millam and Grade 11 player Olivia Peterson.
Mount Douglas has been B.C. top-ranked all year in Triple-A in winning the Camosun and Abbotsford tournaments with results over top-rated Quad-A teams. Mount Doug also won the Vic Lindal Cup Greater Victoria championship for all tiers by going undefeated in league play. The only hiccup was a three-set loss in the Lower Island playoff final to the Stelly’s Stingers. That sets up a potential rematch on Saturday in the Island final against host Stelly’s. But North Island No. 1 Carihi of Campbell River, with a tradition of B.C. championship success, will have a say.
The Island is also a power in girls’ Quad-A with the Nanaimo District Secondary Islanders ranked No. 3 in B.C., Claremont Spartans No. 5 and Dover Bay Dolphins No. 6 heading into the Island tournament today and Saturday at Dover Bay.
Meanwhile, Nanaimo Christian is ranked No. 3 in B.C. in girls’ Single-A and Brentwood College No. 4 in the province in girls’ Double-AA. The girls’ Double-A Island championships are today and Saturday at SMUS.
The Island boys’ high school Triple-A championships are taking place at G.P. Vanier in Courtenay today and Saturday with the Claremont Spartans, Reynolds Roadrunners and Oak Bay Barbers tabbed as the teams to watch. (There is no Quad-A in boys volleyball).
Claremont, which placed third in B.C. in the past two high school seasons in 2018 and 2019 before the pandemic cancelled the 2020 season, is again ranked in the provincial top 10.
“It’s a tradition that has been very consistent,” says Spartans head coach Shon Ryan.
The PCS Pacers are the class of boys’ Double-A, heading into the Island tournament in Nanaimo at Wellington, and have had an outstanding season in knocking off several of the big Triple-A teams.
Meanwhile, a renaissance of sports is happening at Vic High, where the junior boys’ volleyball team has won the Island title for the first time in several decades.
