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Duncan Christian School girls off to volleyball provincials

The Duncan Christian School Chargers will represent Vancouver Island at the provincial single-A girls volleyball championships in Kelowna after winning the zone tournament they hosted last weekend.

The Chargers defeated their rivals from Campbell River Christian 23-35, 25-21, 15-8 in the title match at the Island tournament. After losing the first set, the Chargers trailed 17-11 in the second, with their hopes of going to provincials fading. Reminded by coach Dave Vanderschaaf to "play in the present for each point," DCS mounted a comeback to win the set and force a third set that they won handily.

DCS opened the tournament on Friday with a 25-20, 25-10 win over Lake Cowichan, then beat Dwight School Canada 25-10, 25-11 and Nanaimo Christian 25-12, 25-12 to finish atop their pool.

In the playoffs on Saturday, the Chargers defeated Queen Margaret's School 25-9, 25-15 in the quarterfinals, and Chemainus Secondary 25-12, 25-10 to advance to the final against Campbell River Christian.

"Playing through the round robin and the first round of the playoffs was a good warm-up for the girls," coach Dave Vanderschaaf said. "Every member of the team got to jump in on the action in each of those matches, helping us prepare for the semifinal and final."

The Lake Cowichan Lakers beat the Chemainus Cougars 22-25, 25-19, 15-13 in the bronze medal match. Rounding out the field were Ucluelet in fifth, Nanaimo Christian in sixth, and QMS and Dwight tied for seventh.

DCS's Danielle Groenendijk was named tournament MVP. Chargers Lauren King-Nyberg and Juliet King were named to the first all-star team, as were Cassidy Longbottom of Lake Cowichan and Jessica Roe of Chemainus. Lake Cowichan's Maddi Young, Chemainus's Tia James and McKaylee Catcher of QMS were named to the second all-star team.

The Chargers will head to the provincial tournament ranked ninth.

"Moving forward to provincials, we are looking to control the things we can 100 per cent control: effort and attitude,"

Vanderschaaf said. "We will very likely have tight matches throughout the tournament, so having some very close matches throughout the year had prepared us for those pressure situations."



Kevin Rothbauer

About the Author: Kevin Rothbauer

Kevin Rothbauer is the sports reporter for the Cowichan Valley Citizen
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