As cross-town rivals, the College Heights Cougars and Duchess Park Condors are used to playing each other to settle local high school boys volleyball bragging rights.
Thursday at 1 p.m. at the provincial double-A provincial championship in Langley they'll face each other in a playoff match will end the B.C. title aspirations for one of those teams.
Ranked fifth out of 16 teams heading into Wednesday's power pool play, the North Central zone-champion Cougars did not do themselves any favours when they lost two of their three opening-day matches.
College Heights dropped the opener 2-1 (25-16, 22-25, 15-13) to Pacific Christian, beat Langley Fundamental 2-1 (19-25, 25-22, 15-5) and was defeated 2-1 (25-22, 11-25, 15-9) by Pacific Academy.
The 10th-seeded Condors won two of their three matches, starting with a 2-1 (25-23, 23-25, 15-12) win over St. Michaels University, then lost 2-0 to Surrey Christian (25-13, 25-14), and ended with a 2-0 (25-19, 25-20) victory over Hugh McRoberts.
The winner of Thursday's Duchess Park-College Heights playoff advances to the quarterfinal playoff Thursday at 6:15 p.m. against the winner of today's George Elliot-Alpha match. The tournament final is scheduled for Saturday at 7 p.m.
Meanwhile, at the double-A girls provincial tournament which starts Thursday in Vernon, the Kelly Road Roadrunners are ranked 14th out of 20 teams. The D.P. Todd Trojans, who won a wild-card berth last weekend in Vancouver, hold the No. 16 slot.
The Roadunners take on No. 7 Langley Christian at 12:10 p.m., then face No. 4 York House at 3:40 p.m. and No. 17 John Barsby at 7:10 p.m. The Trojans start with No. 5 Mennonite Educational Institute at 1:20 p.m., then play No. 6 West Point Gray Academy at 4:50 p.m., and No. 15 Surrey Christian at 7:10 p.m.
The triple-A girls tournament also starts Thursday in Langley, the Duchess Park Condors and PGSS Polars will both represent Prince George. The Condors are matched with Vernon at 12:15 p.m., Crofton House at 4 p.m. and W.L. Seaton at 5:15 p.m.
The Polars, who won their provincial berth last weekend in a wild-card playoff in Kamloops, start with Okanagan Mission at 11 a.m., then play the North Central zone-champion Dawson Creek Penguins at 2:45 p.m., ending the day against Salish at 5:15 p.m.
At the single-A provincial girls championship which starts Thursday in Castlegar the Cedars Christian Eagles are ranked 12th out of 16.
