The Island’s vibrancy in volleyball has been evident from Tom Graham and Greg Russell at the 1976 Montreal Olympics to more recent Olympians such as Martin Reader at London 2012 and Fred Winters and Jamie Broder at Rio 2016.
On the college courts, it is reflected by the annual success of the Camosun College Chargers and Vancouver Island University Mariners programs. It seems if there’s a net stretched across a gym, beach or park, someone from here will be spiking a ball over it.
The Chargers men are looking to defend their national title from last year when they open the 2023 Canadian Colleges Athletic Association championship tournament today at Humber College in Toronto. The four-time defending Canadian champion VIU Mariners women’s team, meanwhile, is hosting the 2023 CCAA nationals beginning today in Nanaimo in their “Drive for Five.”
But in the way of the Mariner women’s five-peat — you just know it — are the Chargers, who upset VIU in the PacWest Conference championship game in Cranbrook. The Chargers, PacWest champions for the first time, open the national tournament today at 1 p.m. against the Atlantic champion Holland College Hurricanes of Charlottetown, P.E.I.
The host Mariners are in a quarter-final this evening at 6 p.m. against the Ontario champion Humber College Hawks of Toronto. The other quarter-finals feature the Augustana Vikings of Camrose, Alta., against the Quebec-champion Lynx d’Édouard-Montpetit of Longueuil, Que., at 3 p.m. with the Manitoba champion Rouges de Saint-Boniface taking on the Lakeland College Rustlers of Vermilion, Alta., at 8 p.m.
The semifinals are 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Thursday evening. Action on Friday is from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. The bronze-medal game is Saturday at 3 p.m. followed by the championship game at 6 p.m.
Head coach Shane Hyde has led host VIU to seven national titles and 16 top-three finishes at nationals in 22 seasons. The Mariners have placed in the top three nine times in the past 11 years, including on the top rung the last four seasons.
The Mariners recent success has been led by star import Yevgeniya Lytvynenko, from Severodonetsk, Ukraine, who went through plenty in being named 2022 national tournament MVP, while raising money through GoFundMe for her refugee sister and nephew and niece.
Brentwood College graduate Linnea Brickwood and Cassidy Kitchen from Terrace were the Mariners selected as all-stars in this year’s PacWest playoffs. VIU’s only losses of the season have come against the Chargers, once in the regular season followed by the conference playoffs.
Rilyn Boorman of Camosun College, out of Red Deer, Alta., was selected PacWest Conference tournament MVP with Chargers teammates Erica Bolink and graduating veteran and former Belmont Secondary star Hannah May named to the all-star squad. Also on the Chargers team is sister Gracie May, a second-year player out of Belmont.
The Chargers men go into nationals at Toronto top-ranked in sa国际传媒 and led by Brazilian import Eduardo Bida, named to the national tournament first all-star team last season and now Camosun captain, fellow PacWest all-star and fifth-year veteran Brendan Folkerts, out of Winnipeg, and Oak Bay High graduate Lucas Maffia, brother of University of Victoria Vikes basketball star and sa国际传媒 West MVP Diego Maffia.
The Chargers open in the men’s national quarter-finals today against the Manitoba-champion Providence University and College Theological Seminary Pilots.
Camosun College defeated the Mariners in the all-Island PacWest Conference men’s championship game in Cranbrook. With PacWest having two berths, the Chargers and Mariners both advanced to the men’s nationals in Toronto, with VIU opening in the quarter-finals today against the Quebec-champion Volontaires de Sherbrooke.
