Brooks Secondary School Thunderbirds senior girls’ volleyball team travelled to Vernon to compete in the BC Secondary School Girls Volleyball Association championship, held December 3 to 5.
After sweeping round-robin play with victories over Okanagan Mission (Kelowna), Clayton Heights (Surrey) and top-ranked Duchess Park (Prince George), Thunderbirds disposed of round-of-16 opponent LV Rogers (Nelson) in straight sets and followed that up with a four-set quarterfinal victory over Fraser Heights (Surrey).
“We knew we had to do everything we could to beat Duchess Park,” said coach Doug Skinner. “That win was absolutely enormous.”
Thunderbirds’ only five-set match of the tournament took place in the semifinal against College Heights (Prince George). After falling behind in sets on two occasions, Thunderbirds prevailed 23-25, 27-25, 15-25, 25-20 and 15-11 en route to the championship match.
Ranked seventh heading into the tournament, Thunderbirds faced third-ranked Sa-Hali (Kamloops) in Saturday’s final in front of 400 spectators. After dropping the first set, Thunderbirds answered with a 25-22 second-set win.
“We played particularly well in the second,” said Skinner. “If we had been able to keep that consistency we would have had a real good chance to win.” Sa-Hali took the next two sets 25-17 and 25-19 to win the title.
“We were the only team in the tournament to take a set from Sa-Hali,” added Skinner. “We did more than we were supposed to do.”
Maddie Yule and Kate Fisher were named first-team all stars. Other players included Hope Lechner, Matilda Bertrand, Melinda Boyd, Tyana Sacree, Chantel Gauthier, Kristen Watson, Paige Lawson and Amelia Vincent.
