Smithers Secondary’s senior girls’ volleyball team finished in the top five against 15 other teams in the Northwest at a tournament in Prince George over the weekend.
The team won five of six games at D.P. Todd Secondary Invitational on Saturday.
“I was really happy with how they stepped up against some of the better competition,” said head coach Neal Currie. “We played really well.”
The most exciting game was in the quarter finals against College Heights, one of the top 10 AAA teams in the province, where the Gryphons dropped two close sets: the first 25-27 and the second 18-25.
“Even though we lost, the girls played so well that it gave them confidence going into their last couple of games,” said Currie. “And we won both of those to finish off the tournament in a great way.”
Currie said the team ran systems well.
“Defensive systems stepped up and everyone knew what they were doing,” he said. “When we were getting good passes our offence was also running really well.”
The team has zones on Nov. 15 and depending on the results, could head to provincials at the end of the month.
Currie said the tournament was an opportunity to get a better idea of the competition the team could face during provincials.
“We were using this more as practice for provincials,” he said. “It’s hard to find competition in the North that will mimic what we’re hoping to face at provincials, so we wanted to get some competition against some higher calibre teams.”
He added the girls need to work on serve receiving and expanding on their offensive options.