It took two gruelling five-set matches, but the Oak Bay Breakers posted their second straight quadruple-A senior girl鈥檚 Islands volleyball championship, out-lasting Dover Bay 3-2 (19-25, 25-21, 25-14, 20-25, 15-11) at Belmont on Saturday afternoon.
Just hours earlier, the Breakers took a five-set affair off the Mount Douglas Rams in the semi-final. All three teams will advance to provincials on Dec. 3 at Dover Bay. The Rams downed the host Belmont Bulldogs 2-1 (25-20, 18-25, 15-5) in the third-place matchup.
鈥淚t鈥檚 nice to go back-to-back,鈥� said Oak Bay coach Scott Millington, whose team has battled with Dover Bay all year, winning the Seaquam tournament final, but losing at the Camosun tournament. 鈥淭his was the rubber match between us. This should change the rankings, hopefully we can get a top-four ranking now, which we wanted going into provincials. We鈥檙e happy. You play a five-setter against Mount Doug in the semis, you can get real tired. This showed we鈥檙e willing to push through anything.鈥�
Dover Bay was ranked No. 4 in sa国际传媒 coming into the event with Mount Douglas at No. 6 and Oak Bay at No. 10.
At the triple-A senior boy鈥檚 Islands at Oak Bay, the host Barbers lost 3-2 to Dover Bay in the championship final (25-22, 22-25, 25-23, 22-25, 15-12). Reynolds defeated Belmont 3-0 (25-14, 25-10, 25-12) for third place. All four teams advance to provincials.
At the double-A boy鈥檚 Islands at Royal Bay, the Pacific Christian Pacers, Lambrick Park Lions and Woodlands all qualified for sa国际传媒鈥檚, to be held with triple-A鈥檚 at Langley, Dec. 2-5.
The Pacers defeated the Lions 3-2 (20-25, 19-25, 26-24, 25-20, 15-11) in a thriller to take the title. Woodlands downed host Royal Bay for bronze.
鈥淲e knew there were five or six teams up for those three spots,鈥� said Pacers manager Neil Ryan, who turned the coaching reins over to former students Mike Welle and Jordan Campbell.
鈥淚t was a good battle,鈥� said Ryan, whose Pacers lost to Woodlands on Friday which forced them into the quarter-finals where they beat Mark Isfeld. PCS edged Royal Bay in the semis.
This will be the 15th time PCS heads to provincials in 20 years. 鈥淲e鈥檙e quite proud of that,鈥� Ryan.
