The triple-A senior boys high school Island volleyball championship is likely to come down to a battle of the bays.
Number 1 seeds the Oak Bay Barbers and Dover Bay Dolphins are favourites heading into the six-team, two-pool tournament which begins Friday at 1 p.m. at Oak Bay High School.
The Barbers, the South No. 1 team, are pooled with South 3 Claremont and South 4 Belmont, while Dover Bay is the lone North representative, teamed with South 2 Reynolds and South 5 Spectrum.
Finals are set for Saturday at 5:30 p.m. following the bronze-medal match at 3:30 p.m. Four teams will advance to provincials in Langley from Dec. 2 to 5.
Dover Bay is ranked No. 3 in the province with Oak Bay at No. 7.
鈥淚f we can beat them here at Islands that will change,鈥� said Barbers coach Al Carmichael. 鈥淲e鈥檝e played them three times and they鈥檝e beaten us twice. The last one they beat us in five very tight games.
鈥淭he teams are very close and it really comes down to who plays best, on the day, will come out the winner. The top 12 or 13 teams are very close.鈥�
If they go on form, Reynolds (an honourable mention in the sa国际传媒 rankings) and Claremont should make a push for the bronze medal.
鈥淲e鈥檝e been up and down this year,鈥� said Carmichael, whose Barbers defeated Reynolds in the city championship last week. 鈥淲e haven鈥檛 had consistency at tournaments. We played well at Camosun, but were disappointed with a defeat at UBC where we suffered a loss we shouldn鈥檛 have suffered.鈥�
Meanwhile, the double-A boys鈥� Islands is set for Friday and Saturday at Royal Bay.
Mark Isfeld, Lambrick Park, Royal Bay and Highlands are situated in Pool A. Pacific Christian, Woodlands, Timberline and Parkland are in Pool B. Mark Isfeld is the North 1 team followed by North 2 Woodlands, North 3 Timberline and North 4 Highlands.
Pacific Christian is the top South seed followed by Lambrick Park, Royal Bay and Parkland.
Three teams will advance to provincials in Langley, Dec. 2-5.
The Island double-A tournament opens Friday at noon with medal games on Saturday at 2:30 and 4:45 p.m., respectively.
In senior girls play, the quadruple-A Islands is being hosted by Belmont, which is pooled with Mount Douglas, Cowichan and Claremont. Dover Bay, Oak Bay, G.P. Vanier and Spectrum form Pool B. Round-robin begins Friday at 1 p.m. with the championship final set for Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
Dover Bay is ranked No. 4 in sa国际传媒 in quadruple-A and will play host to provincials (just one Island team will join the host at sa国际传媒鈥檚, but one team will advance to a wild card tournament in Penticton on Nov. 28). Mount Douglas is currently ranked No. 6 in sa国际传媒
Timberline is No. 7 in triple-A, ahead of No. 8 Brooks and No. 10 Mark Isfeld.
All three sa国际传媒 championships are set for Dec. 3-5, with triple-A in Vernon and double-A at George Elliot in Central Okanagan.
The triple-A Islands will be played at Brooks in Powell River and double-A will be played at Woodlands in Nanaimo.
