Ranked ninth out of 16 teams at the BC triple-A girls volleyball championship in West Vancouver, the Duchess Park Condors proved to their provincial peers they were overachievers.
They were the Cinderella story of the tournament, winning all their matches leading up to the gold-medal matchup with the Crofton House Falcons. That’s when their dream of coming home to Prince George with the BC banner was shattered.
The Vancouver squad rose to the occasion Saturday afternoon and grabbed the provincial crown, defeating the Condors 3-0 (25-17, 25-16, 25-16) at West Vancouver Secondary School gym.
“The score doesn’t say everything, we actually battled pretty good,” said Condors head coach Mark Gurney.
“If you watched the game it was much more entertaining than the score lets on. They just earned so many more tough points, but it was crazy volleyball back and forth with digs and big hits and they just got the better of us in a few more of those situations. That was a great team.”
The Condors, the North Central zone runners-up to the College Heights Cougars, got hot at just the right time, given their unexpected chance to play in the provincial tournament when the powers-that-be at BC School Sports decided one week before the zone tournament to reserve two provincial berths to the north.
That turned out a wise decision. The Cougars also lost only one match all week on their way to a fifth-place provincial finish. Unfortunately for College Heights, that happened in the quarterfinals Friday when they were swept in three sets by the W.L. Seaton Sonics of Vernon, the eventual bronze medalists.
Led by first-team all-stars Maggie Malfair and Bella Saro and the defence of Rielle Hamilton, chosen as libero of the tournament, Duchess Park got on a roll in the C power pool round robin on Thursday.
They reeled off three straight victories to set up their round-of-16 playoff Friday against the George Elliot Coyotes. The Vernon squad won the first set 29-27, Duchess Park took the second 25-16 and it was dogfight the rest of the way with the Condors winning 25-23 and 27-25.
That set up what turned out the upset of the tournament. The Vernon Panthers flirted with the No. 1 provincial ranking all season and won the A pool with a 2-1 record, their only loss coming to top-seeded Little Flower Academy.
But the Condors needed just four sets to eliminate the Panthers from medal contention. After losing the opener 25-18, Duchess pounded out three straight wins, 25-16, 26-24 and 25-21.
“They were the team to beat, that was an amazing win,” said Gurney.
Then, in the semifinal round Saturday morning the Condors scored a comeback five-set win over the host Sentinel Spartans, winning 3-2 (25-20, 20-25, 22-25, 25-20-15-13). At one point in the fifth set Duchess Park trailed 9-3.
“We matched up really well with them pound for pound and our defence was really good, which ended up shocking them,” said Gurney. “We were in tough spot in the fifth set and then we had a couple calls go our way and we just kept rolling. Maggie Malfair went on a nice little run (of consecutive serves) and it was a pretty collective team effort that was pretty nice.”
Gurney said the returning players from last year’s Condor team that finished sixth in the province saw at that tournament how thin the margin of victory can be when the best teams BC get together to sort out bragging rights and they carried that mantra into this year’s tournament.
“You can be on the wrong side of two points and you can be on the positive side of two points and that can be the difference between 10th place and a top-five finish,” said Gurney. “When we talked about being the two-points better we actually did that all weekend, until the final.”
Malfair, Natalie Xu and Iza Yarish played their final high school volleyball match Saturday as graduating Grade 12s. In addition to their all-stars, the other Condors rewarded with silver were Hannah Neukom, Stella Sato, Zahra Ngabo, Camryn MacLachlan, Emily Clarke and Natalie Bond, who was injured and did not play at provincials.
Malfair, who drew honourable mention notice as the Condors’ setter last year at provincials, switched to power hitter this season and Saro, a Grade 11, took over her spot as the starting setter. Ngabno, a Grade 10 senior team rookie who Gurney refers to as his “little phenom,” also delivered a standout performance on the left side. With Bond sidelined, Yarish and Hamilton covered the right side and spilt libero duties. MacLachlan and Clarke were the Condors’ starting middle blockers.
Cassandra Malfair and Mani Ngabo served as the Condors assistant coaches.
College Heights secured its top-five finish Saturday morning with a 2-1 win over Little Flower Academy. That came about an hour after the Cougars swept Point Grey in two straight sets.
Gurney said his team lost all five matches this season against College Heights and was impressed with how vocal the Cougar players and their families were in joining the Duchess Park contingent cheering on the Condors in the final.
Cedars Christian just misses medal
The Cedars Christian Eagles came up short in the push for a medal at the single-A volleyball provincial championship in Nanaimo.
The Prince George-based Eagles lost 2-1 to the White Rock Christian Warriors the bronze medal match Saturday. That came less than day after their provincial title hopes were dashed in a 3-0 loss to the Unity Christian Flames of Chilliwack.
Those last two matches were the only losses of the tournament for the Eagles, who went 5-2 at the 16-team championship.
Ranked sixth going in, Cedars was a perfect 3-0 in pool play and they opened the championship round with a 3-0 victory over Ebenezer Auroras of Smithers, followed by a 3-1 quarterfinal win over Vernon Christian Royals.
Cedars power hitter Jasmine Vigar was picked as first team all-star, and setter Paige Kynoch was named to the second all-star team.
The Cedars boys team placed seventh in the province, winning their final match 2-1 over Ebenezer Saturday in Abbotsford.
The Eagles were eliminated from medal contention Friday 3-0 by Bulkley Valley Christian Royals of Smithers, which dropped Cedars into the consolation round and they lost 2-0 to Nanaimo Christian Trail Blazers.
Eagles power hitter Joshua Olatubosun was selected a second team all-star.
Prince George places two teams in double-A boys top-10
The Duchess Park Condors placed seventh at the boys double-A provincials in Coldstream/Vernon. Ranked fifth going in, the Condors won their first four matches before they were knocked into consolation country with a 3-2 loss in the quarterfinals Thursday to the host Kalamalka Lakers.
The Condors lost their chance to play for fifth with a 2-0 defeat at the hands of the J.N. Burnett Breakers of Richmond. Duchess Park snagged seventh with a 2-0 win Saturday over the Lambrick Park Lions of Victoria.
The College Heights Cougars placed 10th. They were knocked out of the double-A championship draw 3-2 by Brunett, then scored consecutive 2-0 wins over L.V. Rogers Bombers of Nelson and Alpha Eagles of Burnaby before losing 2-0 to Pacific Academy Breakers of Surrey in the battle for ninth.
