Houston Christian School hosted the Senior Girls Volleyball A Northwest Zone Championships last weekend in the Smithers Secondary School gym, with seven teams taking part.
At the end of regular pool play, four teams were in the running for one spot at Provincials, as well as the chance at a wild card spot, to be played against a north central school. The four teams in the playoffs were HCS, Centennial Christian School from Terrace, and Smithers teams from Bulkley Valley Christian School and Ebenezer Canadian Reformed School.
In the playoff round, HCS defeated BVCS in two straight sets, moving on to the gold medal match – no great surprise, as they’ve won the Provincial spot for the last few years. CCS then defeated Centennial in two straight sets, to earn a spot in the gold medal match.
Centennial and Bulkley Valley Christian battled back and forth for the bronze, taking it to a third game, before BVCS came out ahead, winning the third place spot in the zone tournament.
The gold medal match was somewhat one-sided, but the Ebenezer girls put up a solid effort, scoring some well-earned points and getting a few solid spikes past the intimidating Houston Christian front line. HCS went home with gold medals and a chance to try for a win at the Provincial level, after several years of being shut down by lower mainland competition. Ebenezer will play for the wild card spot next weekend; Provincials are being held in Prince George from Dec. 1 to 3.