A third-place finish at the Island tournament last weekend has the Duncan Christian School Chargers headed to the provincial single-A girls volleyball championships in Nanaimo next week.
“The tournament had its usual roller coaster ride,” said Jim Brandsma, who coaches the team with Rob Vanderschaaf and Katrina Neilsen. “One match we are playing really well and then everyone just shut down. When we were on our game, it was great to see the girls having fun and playing well. There are some things that we definitely need to be working on over the next week. There were times where every single girl had a moment of brilliance and it was awesome to see the look on their faces.”
The Chargers won their first two matches in pool play, beating Chemainus 25-14, 25-17 and Victor Brodeur 25-18, 25-19, then lost to Nanaimo Christian 25-9, 25-14, finishing second in the pool.
They opened the playoffs the next day with a convincing 25-8, 25-3 victory over Brookes Westshore to reach the semifinals.
DCS got off to a slow start in the semifinal match against Campbell River Christian, losing the first set 25-9, but battled back for an exciting 26-24 win in the second set. The third set went the distance, with Campbell River eking out a 15-13 victory.
The Chargers met Chemainus once again in the bronze medal match. DCS won the first set 25-10, but Chemainus came back to win the second set 25-22 before the Chargers clinched their provincial berth with a 15-6 win in the deciding set.
Kearra McCormick and Jaymie Brandsma were named to the Island all-star team. The provincial championships will be hosted by Nanaimo Christian on Nov. 29-Dec. 1.