Having lost to the Mount Douglas Rams the last two times in their own gym, the Belmont Bulldogs would love to be in a payback position when the Island senior girls鈥� quadruple-A volleyball championship begins Friday at Mount Doug.
鈥淚t would be nice, but they are peaking at the right time,鈥� Bulldogs coach Mike Toakley said of the Rams, who defeated Belmont in the final of its own tournament and then also claimed the Ron Greene Cup (the Lower Island championship) at the Langford school.
The No. 1 South-seeded Rams are situated in Pool A along with Cowichan, Oak Bay and Spectrum, while the South No. 2 Bulldogs are in Pool B with North No. 1 Dover Bay, Claremont and Reynolds.
Two teams will advance to provincials at Handsworth in North Vancouver, Dec. 1-3, and the third- and fourth-place finishers will advance to a wild-card tournament next weekend in the Fraser Valley.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e an experienced group and well coached,鈥� Toakley said of coach Derek Horton鈥檚 Rams. 鈥淭hey will be a handful for anybody, not just for us on the Island, but at provincials. I like their chances to be a medallist, for sure.鈥�
To be fair, the Bulldogs were short-staffed for both those recent losses, the only setbacks of the season as injuries and commitments to provincial events reduced Toakley鈥檚 roster.
鈥淲e were still close, but close doesn鈥檛 matter,鈥� Toakley said of the 25-23, 21-25, 15-12 loss at the Ron Greene Cup. 鈥淲e still lost. I still think that if we can get through to provincials and we can get 100 per cent healthy, we have a good chance of winning the whole thing.鈥�
The Island championship begins with Dover Bay facing Reynolds and Mount Doug versus Spectrum at noon, with games going every hour until 5 p.m. in the round-robin portion, set as best-of-threes. Playoffs begin on Saturday with gold- and bronze-medal games set for 3 p.m.
Mount Doug is ranked No. 2 in sa国际传媒 behind Earl Marriott of Surrey and ahead of Belmont at No. 3.
鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be a really good tournament,鈥� Toakley said of Islands. 鈥淭here are four teams that have been ranked in the top 10 in the province for quadruple-A or looked at.鈥�
Oak Bay was as high as No. 2, Belmont has been a No. 1, Mount Douglas is No. 2 right now and Dover Bay has also been given consideration for a top 10.
Meanwhile, the triple-A Islands will be held Friday and Saturday at St. Michaels University School, the double-A tournament is set for Parkland and single-A is at Duncan Christian.
Provincial rankings at triple-A have Brooks of Powell River at No. 1, Timberline of Campbell River No. 2, Nanaimo District at No. 8, Carihi No. 9 and Mark Isfeld at No. 10. In double-A, Brentwood is No. 8.
In senior boys鈥� competition, Dover Bay will play host to the triple-A championship where the Reynolds Roadrunners are the South No. 1 team, situated in Pool B with Nanaimo District, Cowichan and Belmont. Dover Bay, Oak Bay, Claremont and G.P. Vanier form Pool A.
Dover Bay is ranked No. 5 in the province while the Roadrunners (who had a strong 37-5 regular-season) are No. 9, ahead of Oak Bay at No. 10.
鈥淲e have had a good year 鈥� a little up and down, but overall good,鈥� said Reynolds coach Rob Basi, whose team was ranked No. 4 about a month ago. 鈥淢y expectation is we鈥檙e expecting to go to provincials. There鈥檚 no doubt in my mind.
鈥淚 think Dover Bay is the main opposition and Oak Bay can surprise us. Al [Carmichael] is a great coach and he does great things with those guys. He鈥檚 a very good tactician and he can beat you in many ways,鈥� Basi said of Oak Bay鈥檚 mastermind.
Four of the eight triple-A teams will advance to provincials at the Langley Events Centre, Dec. 1-3.
Play begins Friday with Dover Bay vs. Claremont and Reynolds vs. Cowichan at noon and continues through to 6:15 p.m. games. Playoffs start Saturday at 10 a.m. with the bronze game set for 5:30 p.m. and gold at 7:15 p.m.
Double-A Islands also plays out Friday and Saturday at Mark Isfeld where Pacific Christian is a No. 8 seed provincially. The sa国际传媒 tournament is also at the LEC Dec. 1-3. Single-A, in which Duncan Christian is ranked No. 5, is Nov. 24-26 at Centennial Christian.
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