The PGSS Polars have struggled with their consistency this season.
Now is the time for them to play their most complete volleyball.
The Polars senior girls team will host the quadruple-A north central zone championship tournament today and Saturday. They'll go up against the North Peace Ookapiks of Fort St. John and the Correlieu Clan of Quesnel for the right to smack kill shots at provincials, Nov. 28 to Dec. 1 in Port Coquitlam.
After today's round robin, the top team will advance directly to Saturday's final, scheduled for 1:30 p.m. The second- and third-place clubs will meet in a semifinal, Saturday at 10 a.m. Both matches will be best-of-five affairs.
The Polars and Clan will get things started today at 4:30 p.m. Then, at 5:45 p.m., Correlieu and North Peace will be on the floor. In the nightcap, which will start at 7 p.m., the Polars and Ooks will do battle.
North Peace hasn't lost to either PGSS or Correlieu this season so the Fort St. John girls enter zones as the favourites to take gold.
The Polars, meanwhile, have beaten the Clan in both previous matches between the teams but both contests went the maximum three sets.
PGSS coach Allan Tong has high hopes for his team at zones.
"It could be anybody's title, depending on who plays their best," said Tong, whose squad tied for fifth place at the 10-team PGSS Polars Invitational last weekend.
"Pretty well for the whole season we've been a bit inconsistent but the girls put together three pretty solid matches of the four we played on Saturday," he added. "They were doing things that we have tried to stress in practice and it was nice to see them execute properly."
The Polars are typically led by Grade 12 setter Jill Cole. Two of her favourite targets are power hitters Mavia Nijjer and Kennedy Cox but Cole was able to get middle blockers Emily Aase and Jessica Jose more involved in the attack last weekend.
The Polars are rounded out by Tiana Pius, Melissa West, Kaitlin Rud, Kristen Whitwick, Amy Denicola and Christina Wallin.
The single-A girls zones will be played at the College of New Caledonia, starting today. The Cedars Christian School Eagles are the host team.
Provincials at the single-A level are Nov. 29 to Dec. 1 in Castlegar.
