As defending national champions, the Camosun Chargers men were hardly a best-kept secret in Canadian college volleyball. Now the women Chargers have joined the hardwood party as the Camosun teams swept both male and female conference titles over the weekend at the PacWest championships in Cranbrook.
There’s always been a lot of potent setting, spiking and digging on the Island with a notable list of Olympians produced from Greg Russell and Fred Winters to Jamie Broder and Martin Reader. That legacy has more than spilled into the college ranks as both PacWest championship games were all-Island affairs with the Chargers defeating the VIU Mariners in the men’s and women’s conference finals.
The nationally top-ranked Chargers men swept the Mariners in three sets in the final, after sweeping aside the Douglas College Royals in the semifinals, as rookie Chargers head coach Kelvin Ma didn’t miss a beat in taking over from former national-team captain and retired 13-season Chargers bench-boss Charles Parkinson.
It was the fifth meeting between the Chargers and Mariners in the conference final over the past six seasons with Camosun winning five of those clashes. Spike-smashing veteran Brazilian-import Eduardo Bida of the Chargers was named conference tournament MVP and Brendan Folkerts and Lucas Maffia, brother of UVic Vikes basketball star Diego Maffia, to the all-star team from Camosun. Daniel Mascarenhas and Lucas Torres were the Mariners named as tournament all-stars.
With PacWest having two berths, the Chargers and Mariners both advance to the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association national championship tournament March 14-18 at Humber College in Toronto.
The Chargers won their first conference championship in women’s volleyball by upsetting the nationally top-ranked and four-time defending Canadian champion Mariners in straight sets in the final. Camosun had been knocking with second place in 2020 and the bronze medal last year and now blew the door open by not losing a set in the PacWest tournament.
Rilyn Boorman of the Chargers was selected tournament MVP with teammates Erica Bolink and graduating veteran and former Belmont star Hannah May named to the all-star squad. Linnea Brickwood and Cassidy Kitchen were the Mariners selected as all-stars.
The Mariners’ only losses of the season have come against the Chargers, once in the regular season followed now by the conference playoffs. The Chargers and Mariners will both play in the CCAA national championship tournament hosted by VIU from March 15-18 in Nanaimo.
