In FULL SWING at VIu
In their third tournament of this year's season, the Senior A Girls Volleyball team travelled to VIU (Vancouver Island University) in Nanaimo to play against some of the top teams in the province. It was an eventful two-day tournament with many big wins, a tough loss, and a facility-wide power outage!
On day one, the girls left bright and early to get to their first game against Nanaimo Christian. It was a slow start for the team as they struggled to find their rhythm under the bright lights in the early hours of the day. After winning the match in a tight two sets that depended on the point differential (25-14, 19-25), the girls played right away against Sardis Secondary. This match was full of big swings and great defense and the team walked away with the victory (25-19, 25-20). The last two matches of day one were delayed due to a massive power outage at VIU, which left room for scrimmages lit by iPhone flashlights. Nevertheless, the girls pushed through their three hour game break, stayed warm, and beat Victoria High (25-19, 25-15) and Courteney powerhouse Mark Isfeld (21-25, 25-20).
The next day, the girls prepared for a tough crossover match against NDSS (Nanaimo District Secondary School), a team they’d lost to before. The girls came out swinging and won in the third set of an absolute nail-biter of a match, 25-12, 26-28 and 15-12. Katie L, Assistant Head Prefect - Athletics, Mack ‘24 said “This match set the tone for the rest of the day. We were ready to be the team to beat for the rest of the day”. Moving into their quarterfinal, the Senior A Girls took down their Nanaimo rivals, Dover Bay, (25-16, 25-17) in a clean, explosive match. Flying through to the semi-finals, the team saw their competition: The Holy Cross Knights. The extremely well-rounded Holy Cross team played impeccable defence paired with a booming offence that inevitably ended the Brentwood Girls’ road to gold in a close match: 17-25, 19-25. Still, the girls didn’t give up and played an exceptional match against Argyle Secondary School and won the match in two sets (25-13, 25-19), capturing the bronze medal.
This tournament pushed the girls to hustle and never give up on the play! Shoutout to tournament All-Star, Ella K, Allard ‘24, for being an extremely consistent player and an amazing teammate on and off court. When asked about the weekend, Ella remarked “The team fought hard and played very well beating rival schools despite injured players and a small roster!”.
Great job this past weekend team! Fans, look forward to Brentwood Classic, our home opener, today in the Foote Centre!
Ella W, Mack ‘25