The host schools found themselves in a field packed with talent, including eight teams from the Cowichan Valley, at the DCS/Cowichan Senior Girls Invitational Volleyball Tournament last weekend.
The Duncan Christian Chargers finished in the top half of the 16-team field, beating the Lake Cowichan Lakers 25-23, 25-19 in the seventh-place match, while the Cowichan Secondary Thunderbirds placed 15th, wrapping up with a 25-5, 25-14 victory over Brentwood College School’s B team.
The T-Birds finished strong with their win over Brentwood, and were the only team in the tournament to take the eventual finalists from Nanaimo Christian to three sets, but head coach Cat Parlee believes her team can do better.
“Due to some injuries and how those injuries impacted the rest of the squad on Saturday, we didn’t play at the level we should have,” she said.
Other local squads in the field included Frances Kelsey in third, Brookes Shawnigan Lake in 12th, Chemainus in 13th, and Queen Margaret’s School in 14th. Tournament all-stars from Valley schools were Meaghan Russell (DCS), Kaylee Trent (Cowichan Secondary), Aleah Grymaloski (Kelsey), Megan McKechnie (Lake Cowichan), Kim English (Brookes Shawnigan), Jaymi Wallace (Chemainus), Muskaan Rai (QMS), and Maya Hodges (Brentwood).
Alberni District beat Nanaimo Christian for the tournament title.
The T-Birds will have another chance to show what they can do as they host their very own tournament this Friday and Saturday. Cowichan will be in a pool with Kelsey, Ucluelet, Campbell River Christian and Gulf Islands. The other pool will include Lake Cowichan, Chemainus, Alberni District, Duncan Christian and QMS.
kevin.rothbauer@cowichanvalleycitizen.com
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