Ever since they finished fourth at last year's provincial championship tournament, the Duchess Park Condors have been waiting for this.
The Duchess Park senior boys volleyball team will compete at the double-A provincials in Kelowna this week. The 16-team event will start on Wednesday, with the Condors as the No. 3 seed. They are ranked behind the MEI Eagles of Abbotsford and the Langley Christian Lightning. But their intention is to be No. 1 when the awards are handed out on Saturday night.
"That's what our goal has been all along," said Condors coach Keith Wood. "Actually, for the last two years we've been training for this weekend. But, regardless, I get them to focus on their skills because that's the only thing that they can control. You can't control how well somebody competes [against you] that day."
The Condors have essentially the same lineup that lost out for provincial bronze to Langley Christian last year. From 2011, the Duchess boys are missing only starting middle blocker Lon Kerr and serving specialist Keefer Zohner. For a portion of this season, the experienced Duchess squad held the top ranking in B.C. in the double-A division.
At provincials, the Condors are in a power pool with MEI, Langley Christian and the fourth-seeded Pacific Christian Pacers of Victoria. Duchess Park's first match is Wednesday at 10:45 a.m. against MEI, the pre-tournament favourites. The Condors will then face the Lightning at 1:30 p.m. and the Pacers at 4:15 p.m., all at UBC Okanagan. Based on Wednesday's power pool results, the teams will be re-seeded for the Round of 16 playoffs, which will see No. 1 meet No. 16, No. 2 play No. 15 and so on.
Playoffs will start on Thursday and matches will continue Friday through Saturday. The championship final will start at 6 p.m. on Saturday.
Grade 12 power hitter David Robertson is the offensive leader for the Condors and he takes his sets from the sure-handed Sam Yurkowski. The Duchess roster is rounded out by Nathanial Pawluk, Eric Kidwell, Tristan Berry, Josh Colley, Duncan Elliot, Min Kim, Josh Tiani and Zach Shill. The players are quietly confident, and poised for a run at a B.C. banner.
"They're a different bunch of guys," Wood said. "Most teenaged boys are quite up and down. These guys are very steady and very school-oriented too. They're mature for their age and I think that's going to help us ride the ups and downs of the other teams. They're ready to play - they're excited but not too excited."
The College Heights Cougars will also represent Prince George at the double-A provincials. The Cougars, coached by Jay Guillet, are seeded seventh and are in a pool with the fifth-ranked Revelstoke Avalanche, the sixth-seeded Langley Fundamental Titans and the eighth-ranked Okanagan Mission Huskies.
Kelowna is also hosting the single-A and triple-A provincial tournaments. The Cedars Christian School Eagles are seeded ninth in the single-A event and the Kelly Road Roadrunners are 20th for the triple-A championship.
