The Island championship trophy has come home to the Towhees Nest for a second year in a row.
The Vanier Towhees senior girls volleyball team struggled through a tough season this year, but the team went 5-1 last weekend at the Island championships in Nanaimo. "The girls have worked very hard to raise their skills to a standard that can compete at the highest level in the province, and working with a combination of team members who had won the championship last year and some very strong new recruits the team’s hard work has paid off," said coach Dave Neill.
Vanier opened the Island tournament with victories over Stelly's and Cowichan before falling to South #1 Oak Bay and placing second in their pool.
Saturday morning the Towhees defeated Dover Bay two straight in the quarter-final. In the semifinal Vanier took on a determined Mt. Doug Secondary team and beat them 3-0. The final was a re-match between Oak Bay and Vanier. Oak Bay had cleanly beaten the Vanier team earlier in the season and had been in and out of the top 10 rankings earlier in the season. In the final match it was a different story with Vanier taking an early lead and not relinquishing it and winning 3-1 to capture the Island crown.
Jamie Neill was a first team all-star and Megan Ireland was selected as the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.
Vanier now heads off to the AAAA (big school) Provincial championships in Port Coquitlam Nov. 29 to Dec. 1.
– Vanier Towhees