听
The Belmont Bulldogs senior girls volleyball team is No. 1 with a bullet.
Actually, more than one bullet, as veteran coach Mike Toakley has a number of weapons in his team鈥檚 arsenal as the Lower Vancouver Island School Sports season officially kicked off this week.
The Bulldogs are ranked No. 1 in the province after securing perfect runs through both the Dover Bay and Mizuno UBC Thunderbirds tournaments. The Oak Bay Breakers are No. 2.
鈥淲e are pumped. We鈥檙e excited,鈥� Toakley said after his team went 6-0 at UBC, sweeping previous No. 1 Handsworth 25-16, 25-19. The Bulldogs also defeated Handsworth at the Dover Bay tournament in a tiebreaker.
The impressive part is Toakley does not have a single Grade 12 player on the roster.
鈥淲e have two Grade 10s, who both start, and the rest are Grade 11s,鈥� said Toakley.
Setter Taylee Pomponio and middle blocker Gracie May are the Grade 10s and Pomponio was named MVP at the UBC tournament.
鈥淭hey were part of the team that Ken Lowe did such a marvellous job with last year, which had a 96-0 season [at the junior level],鈥� said Toakley, who has set team goals high.
鈥淚t鈥檚 hard not to have high expectations after how well they鈥檝e come out of the gate. The goal, I think, is to win provincials. The Island is going to be tough because you do have Oak Bay and Dover Bay. Just getting off will be tough, but once we get there 鈥� assuming we get there 鈥� I think we鈥檙e as strong as any other quadruple-A team out there,鈥� Toakley said.
Savannah Purdy (power hitter), Hannah May (Gracie鈥檚 older sister) and Miranda Cyr (the libero) are all considered leaders on the team.
鈥淭he Island is looking very strong. Oak Bay beat Handsworth as well at the Dover Bay tournament and Mount Doug looked outstanding at UBC, finishing fourth,鈥� added Toakley.
Belmont played host to Claremont and Glenlyon Norfolk School in league play on Tuesday. All three are situated in Pool A along with Vic High, Spectrum, Oak Bay, Stelly鈥檚, St. Michaels University School and what is expected to be a gritty Mount Douglas team.
Reynolds, Pacific Christian, St. Margaret鈥檚, Lambrick Park, Ecole Victor-Brodeur, Parkland, Royal Bay, St. Andrew鈥檚, Esquimalt and Edward Milne are in Pool B.
City playoffs will begin Oct. 25 and Islands commence Nov. 18-19 at a location to be determined. It will be located in the North for quadruple-A schools, which include Belmont, Oak Bay, Mount Doug, Claremont, Spectrum and Vic High.
At the triple-A level, Brooks of Powell River is ranked No. 2 while Comox valley schools, Mark Isfeld and Timberline, are No. 6 and 7, respectively. At double-A, Brentwood is No. 7 and in single-A, Duncan Christian is No. 8.
Meanwhile, at the senior boy鈥檚 level, Kelowna, Walnut Grove and Van Tech are ranked Nos. 1, 2 and 3 before Dover Bay slides into the No. 4 spot. Reynolds and Claremont are No. 9 and 10, respectively, and Oak Bay is an honourable mention.
At double-A, Pacific Christian is No. 7 and Gulf Islands is an honourable mention.
In senior boy鈥檚 play locally last weekend at the Camosun Chargers tournament, Dover Bay and Seaquam had advanced to the Saturday night final, but Seaquam was forced to forfeit as play ran late and the team had to catch the 9 p.m. ferry back to the mainland.
The Chargers men鈥檚 team then organized a friendly match against Dover Bay.
鈥淲e wanted to give Dover Bay the experience of a final and despite taking them in straight sets, they handled things really well and were awarded first place,鈥� said Chargers鈥� coach Charles Parkinson.
Claremont and Pacific Christian qualified for the semifinals and finished in a third-place tie. On the consolation side, SMUS took first place over Ballenas.
