Tournament titles have been the norm for the College Heights Cougars this season. Not to be greedy, but they'd like one more.
The local senior girls volleyball team will begin play at the double-A provincials Thursday in Nanaimo. The Cougars, who have been ranked sixth in B.C. for much of the season, head into the provincial championship having won seven of their eight tournaments during the year. They have a positive mindset about their latest and biggest challenge.
"If you don't believe you can win, you're not going to win," said Cougars coach Jason Olexyn. "These girls are confident. It's pretty wild to hear them talk."
The Cougars are in a round-robin pool with the Pacific Academy Breakers of Surrey, the St. Thomas More Knights of Burnaby and the Smithers Gryphons and will face all those teams on opening day. The toughest match will probably be the one against Pacific Academy, which has been seeded No. 1 in B.C. at various times during the season. A win against the Breakers would be an emotional boost for the Cougars.
"Definitely," Olexyn said. "And having said that, looking at some of the past tournament results, we've beat teams that have beaten them. We beat Kelowna Christian back at the UBCO tournament [in Kelowna] and they've placed higher than Pacific Academy in a number of tournaments. So if that's any sort of gauge, then we definitely have a chance to beat them in the round robin but on any given day anything can happen."
The playoff round will start on Friday and matches will continue on Saturday. The championship final is scheduled for Saturday at 6:30 p.m. at Cedar secondary school.
The zone-champion Cougars have eight Grade 12 team members and four Grade 11s. The Grade 12s are Annissa Fielding, Levi Meyer, Gabby Rainbacher, Michelle Warren, Vittoria Toninato, Morgan Samuelson, Courteney Crellin and Mercedes Minck. The Grade 11 players are Quinn Cassie, Amy Mellquist, Danika Kettles and Dayna Hamilton.
Two other Prince George teams will be on the courts at the girls high school provincials this week. At the single-A level, the Cedars Christian School Eagles will be in Nelson. And, in the triple-A division, the Kelly Road Roadrunners will hit kill shots in Vancouver. Both events also start on Thursday.
