Only one senior AA girls’ volleyball team from Vancouver Island gets to go to provincials, and that team is the John Barsby Bulldogs.
John Barsby Secondary School’s girls won the Island championship this month at Pacific Christian School in Victoria, defeating the host team in five sets in the final.
Barsby had finished as runners-up at the North Island championships, but knew they were competitive with any of the other top three teams at Islands – Highland, Pac Christian and Lambrick Park.
“The team had a good feeling going into the weekend, but we had three other teams that were right there with us,” said Brett Synnott, Barsby coach.
The Bulldogs had a strong start in pool play at Island championships, defeating Lambrick in straight sets and setting up what ended up being a marathon day of playoff-round volleyball. Barsby had to beat Highland in a five-set semifinal right before what ended up being a five-set final against Pacific Christian.
The Island championship was a back-and-forth match, with Barsby winning the first set, then losing the second and third.
“In the fourth set we kind of looked at each other as a team and I looked at my seniors and said, ‘if we’re going to go out, we’re going to go out swinging,’” Synnott said.
Barsby was down 11-6 in the fifth set, but managed to change the momentum and win 15-13.
“That was a real character win for us,” the coach said. “It was exciting, but I think the coolest thing about it was that the players were able to meet a goal that they had set with each other and do it as a team.”
Synnott said it was gratifying to see the way the team came together at Islands, with all nine athletes on the squad playing and contributing to the championship. Kyra Gjevre was chosen tournament MVP and Olivia Moore and Savannah Baker were selected as all-stars.
Barsby will compete at provincial championships at Mulgrave School in West Vancouver starting Thursday, Nov. 30.
“Now we’re playing on borrowed time, as it were, and we get to go and compete against the best teams in the province and just see what happens,” said the coach.
The Nanaimo District Islanders senior AAAA girls won their Island championship the same weekend and the Wellington Wildcats senior AAA girls were third at their Island tournament.
READ ALSO: NDSS Islanders win Island volleyball championship