The Duchess Park Condors were one of the best teams in the north all season.
As it turned out, they were also one of the elite in the province.
At the junior girls volleyball provincial championship tournament last weekend in Delta, the Condors finished sixth out of 24 teams. Overall, Duchess played to a match record of 4-3.
In the showdown for fifth and sixth place on Saturday afternoon, the Condors fell in three sets to the Moscrop Panthers of Burnaby. Scores were 25-17, 19-25, 15-8.
Duchess Park, coached by Kim Forrest, started provincials by posting a 2-1 record in pool play. The Condors opened with a 25-13, 23-25, 15-6 loss to the Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers of Surrey, beat the Kelowna Owls 14-25, 25-23, 15-12 and then downed the St. Thomas More Knights of Burnaby 25-13, 18-25, 15-5.
In the playoff round, Duchess kept rolling with a 25-18, 21-25, 16-14 victory against the Elphinstone Cougars of Gibsons but then lost to the Pacific Academy Breakers of Surrey -- the eventual tournament champion -- 26-28, 25-7, 15-7. The Condors then defeated the Handsworth Royals of North Vancouver 27-25, 25-13, a win that earned them the date with Moscrop.
In Saturday's gold-medal match, Pacific Academy beat Tweedsmuir 25-18, 25-20.
In the post-tournament awards ceremony, Hallie Drezet of the Condors was chosen as a first-team all-star. Drezet was the MVP of the north central zones earlier this month.
The Condors won six out of their eight tournaments during the year.
The College Heights Cougars, runners-up to the Condors at zones, placed 22nd at provincials.
The Cougars started the B.C. championship with a heartbreaking 9-25, 28-26, 15-12 loss to Victoria's Oak Bay and then dropped straight-sets decisions to Princess Margaret of Surrey (25-20, 25-18) and Pacific Academy (25-13, 25-13).
The College Heights girls were finally rewarded with a victory in their first playoff match, where they downed the Gladstone Gladiators of Vancouver 25-19, 23-25, 15-10. After that, the Cougars lost marathons to Ballenas of Parksville (25-19, 29-31, 15-12) and Belmont of Victoria (25-14, 25-27, 15-10).
