The D.P. Todd Trojans were coming on strong.
Pushing for an upset in the gold-medal match of the PGSS senior girls volleyball tournament, they were the final obstacle standing in the way of the Duchess Park Condors, who have dominated the north central zone this season.
After losing the first set 25-22 to the Condors, the Trojans fought back from a 19-14 deficit to tie the second set. Londyn Shawara delivered an ace and Chayse Shawara drew set point with a bump that found the backcourt hardwood.
But the Condors had an answer for that and turned to their veteran power hitter Macyn Unger to put one final rally together. Drawing on volleyball experience that started when she started playing the game at age 7, watching her older sister Brooke practice with the Condors, Unger put down consecutive kills to knot the score 25-25. She then served another ball the Trojans were unable to return, and that set the stage for left-side hitter Avery Parker, who made one final spike to end it.
Their 25-22, 27-25 win marked the Condors’ fifth tournament win in seven appearances this season. They will go to the triple-A zone championship this weekend in Quesnel as the favourites to qualify for provincials at Crofton House in Vancouver.
“That’s definitely one of our best matches, we’ve been practicing really hard and we came out on top,” said Unger. “D.P. Todd had a tough match against College Heights and we were ready for it and it paid off.”
Unger made it official last week that she will join the Simon Fraser University Clan, recruited for her defensive abilities playing at libero. The Clan are part of the NCAA Great Northwest Athletic Conference and play only American opponents.
“I’ll get to travel to a lot of cool places in the States and I’m really excited for that experience,” said Unger. “They’ll pay for all my schooling, I just have to pay my living expenses.”
Not overly tall at five-foot-eight, Unger’s athleticism and instincts on the court and at the net set her apart from most of her peers. She played with the senior Condors in Grade 10 and after the lost pandemic season in 2020, this is her first year playing with most of her current Duchess Park teammates.
“Macyn just kept unloading the balls,” said Trojans head coach Brian Bird. “(Trojan power hitter) Shadae (Black) tried her best but she was experiencing some stomach issues and that’s why I had to take her off.”
The Trojans advanced to the final after knocking off the College Heights Cougars in a three-set semifinal, 22-25, 25-22, 15-11, while Duchess Park beat the Shas Ti Kelly Road Grizzlies 25-20, 25-12 in the other semifinal.
Condors head coach Jasen Florell said his team had to adjust, with starting setter Adriana Friesen and starting right-side hitter Emily Horswell both sick on the weekend. He said his team has done well throughout the season overcoming adversity, whether it’s from sickness, injuries or slow starts in matches and he was impressed what the Trojans brought to the court in Saturdays final.
“D.P. Todd, defensively, was fantastic, that’s the best they’ve ever played against us,” said Florell.
Black was the primary offensive weapon the Trojans utilized and was a standout all tournament hooking up with setter Jasmine Dhillon and power hitter Rheanna Marshall to put opposing defences on their heels. They certainly gave the Condors their toughest match out of all their previous matchups against D.P. Todd this season.
“I think after this tournament and how we played, we’re ready to give it all for our next one,” said Black. “We fell apart at the beginning (of the second set) and our own errors cost us the game, but I still think we did really well as a team and I’m proud of them. We have a really young team, so I was happy with what they did.”
Said Bird: “This is the second time we’ve played them in a final and it’s the first time our defence stepped up. We were doing everything in our power to dig those balls up and it paid off. We were hoping to push it to three - a couple of points and we would have had that.”
Black also has a college volleyball future in mind and is interested in the programs offered at UBC-Okanagan Heat and Thompson Rivers University WolfPack. Unger and Black both played on their respective U-18 and U-17 provincial teams and will be teammates starting in December when the Prince George Youth Volleyball Club begins its season.
College Heights went on to win bronze at the PGSS tournament, defeating the Grizzlies 26-24, 15-25, 15-13.
Three berths for North Central teams are up for grabs in the zone tournament at Correlieu and College Heights will join the Condors in Quesnel. Dawson Creek was picked to host the provincial tournament but the higher COVID case count in the Peace region prompted a venue switch to Vancouver.
The Trojan, Grizzlies, Nechako Valley Vikings of Vanderhoof and Lakes District Lakers of Burns Lake will be compete for the zone double-A title this weekend at Shas Ti Kelly Road. Bird is hoping there be a second berth provincial available for the tournament in Vernon.
