The Camosun Chargers volleyball teams will be looking to duplicate 鈥� or possibly even better 鈥� their performances from last season鈥檚 Pacwest provincial championships, which begin Thursday at Columbia Bible College.
Coach Charles Parkinson鈥檚 men鈥檚 team is the defending provincial and national champion. Coach Chris Dahl鈥檚 women鈥檚 club won silver at the Pacwest championship and bronze at Canadians.
The men enter provincials as the top seed at 20-4, just ahead of Douglas College (also 20-4 but with a lesser differential on sets won and lost). Both will receive byes in the opening round with the Chargers facing the winner of No. 4 University of Fraser Valley Cascades and No. 5 College of the Rockies Avalanche, who play Thursday at 8 p.m.
鈥淭o win a championship you have to be skilled, you have to be healthy both in terms of injury and sickness, and you have to be lucky,鈥� said Parkinson, whose team will play Friday at 8 p.m. 鈥淲e have been able to manage the first and second of the criteria and we are hoping that the bounces will go our way during the event.鈥�
Both UFV and COTR have pushed Camosun to five sets in previous matchups this season, so nothing will be taken for granted.
鈥淥ur strength remains our power in both serving and blocking, along with the discipline that we have on defence,鈥� said Parkinson. 鈥淚n total, we have the talent and the drive to win the championship, but I think victory will come down to which team can play in the moment rather than being overcome by the moment.鈥�
The Chargers men are coming off a pair of final regular-season wins over the Vancouver Island University Mariners.
The women lost both matches against No. 1 VIU on the closing weekend and finished third at 13-11. The Chargers鈥� opponent for Round 1 of the Pacwest championship will be the No. 6 COTR Avalanche, playing at 1 p.m. on Thursday.
鈥淭his past weekend was excellent preparation for our program as we were able to gather a wealth of experience deep into our roster,鈥� said Dahl. 鈥淵ou never know when that experience will be called upon, so the opportunity to better prepare our program was ideal.
鈥淲e鈥檙e a confident group heading into provincials and I think we should be as a result of our preparation and the number and variety of experiences we鈥檝e had over the course of this season.鈥�
Medal matches are set for Saturday with women鈥檚 bronze at 1 p.m.; men鈥檚 bronze at 3 p.m.; women鈥檚 gold at 6 p.m.; and men鈥檚 gold at 8 p.m. All matches are streamed live on PACWEST.tv.
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