The Belmont Bulldogs senior girls鈥� volleyball team will attempt to win the lone tournament it hasn鈥檛 managed to conquer in the last calendar year when it plays host to the quadruple-A Island championship starting Friday.
Having finished third at last year鈥檚 Islands behind eventual victors Mount Douglas and finalists Oak Bay, the Bulldogs 鈥� who are ranked No. 1 in the province and are defending sa国际传媒 champions 鈥� are looking to make amends.
Already 6-for-6 in tournament play this season, coach Mike Toakley鈥檚 Bulldogs are hoping to make it 8-for-8 by adding Islands and a second-straight provincial championship.
鈥淭hat loss [last year in semifinals to Mount Douglas] forced us to get to sa国际传媒鈥檚 via the wild card tournament. We鈥檇 really like to avoid that this year,鈥� said Toakley, whose troops are an amazing 44-1 in 2017, the only loss coming to Langley Christian.
They are the strong favourite at Islands, but Oak Bay, Reynolds and Dover Bay are all evenly matched. Belmont defeated Reynolds at Lower Islands last week.
At Islands, just one team will advance to provincials at the Langley Events Centre on Nov. 29. The runner-up will have a chance to advance through a wild-card berth at a tournament hosted by the Fraser Valley seventh-place team, which will also include the Lower Mainland No. 5 and Okanagan No. 2 teams on Nov. 21.
鈥淭his year we hope to be qualifying as Vancouver Island鈥檚 representative,鈥� stressed Toakley. 鈥淭his year鈥檚 Islands are also special for us in that for the first time we are having Senior鈥檚 Night, a well-established tradition in the U.S., but new to us.鈥�
Following their 6 p.m. game on Friday, the school will pay tribute to their graduating seniors: Savannah Purdy, Sydney Belton, Atessa Flamand, Devon Woolley, Olivia Godek. Hannah May, Miranda Cyr and Kendra West via a video presentation and ceremony.
The tournament features two pools with South No. 1 Belmont teamed with North 2 Cowichan and South Nos. 3 and 5, Oak Bay and Mount Douglas, respectively. North No. 1 Dover Bay is teamed with South 2 Reynolds and South 4 Claremont.
The tournament opens with Belmont vs. Mount Douglas at 1 p.m. on Court 1 and Cowichan vs. Oak Bay on Court 2 with games to follow at 2:15 p.m., 3:30 p.m., 4:45 p.m. and 6 p.m. before action resumes Saturday at 9:30 a.m. That鈥檚 when the second-place pool finishers will face third place. The two top pool finishers will face those winners at noon with the championship game then set for 3:30 p.m.
The girls鈥� triple-A Island tournament is taking place at Timberline, while John Barsby in Nanaimo hosts the double-A event and Chemainus the single-A tournament.
In boys鈥� action, St. Michaels University School is hosting the double-A Island tournament Friday and Saturday. The hosts are joined by Gulf Islands, Lambrick Park, Carihi, Pacific Christian, Mark Isfeld, Timberline and Stelly鈥檚. Play begins Friday at noon. The gold-medal match is slated for Saturday at 4:45 p.m. The top three teams advance to the provincial tournament Nov. 28-Dec. 1 in Langley.
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