The D.P. Todd Trojans are heading into a forest of tall trees at the double-A boys B.C. volleyball championship in Langley.
They might be vertically challenged compared to most of the qualifiers at the 16-team event but the Trojans don’t see that as much of hindrance as they try to map out a path to victory.
“Our tallest player, Zach , is six-foot-two, but we ‘re teeny,” said Trojans head coach Jon Lawrence. “We go down and we play Langley Christian and Abby Christian and those guys there and half their team is over six-foot-five.
“It’s fascinating and hilarious. We play very good defence and we pass very well, so we are competitive. We’re a very good team, we don’t have any one guy who’s incredible. They’re all just really good.”
The Trojans are ranked sixth out of 16, three spots below the Duchess Park Condors.
Setter Josiah Lawrence, left-side hitter Caden Young, right-side hitter Caleb Norn and libero Ethan Bertrand, all Grade 12 starters, will wrap up their high school volleyball career this weekend. Lawrence is in his third year playing for the senior team. The Trojans also lean heavily on Grade 10 middle blocker Dawson Wiens and Grade 11 left side hitter Zach Kynock.
Having missed out on last year’s provincial tournament after a third-place finish in the North Central zone tournament, D.P Todd got to the zone championship match this year and lost in three straight sets to the Condors.
“We beat them every single time except for the zone final,” said coach Lawrence.
Abbotsford Christian is the top-ranked team at provincials.
“The top six teams are very close.”
The Trojans topped Surrey Christian 2-1 in their opening match Wednesday morning, then lost their next two matches in straight sets to Victoria High and Mennonite Educational Institute.
Duchess lost it opener 2-0 to Abbotsford Christian and also fell in straight sets to Lamgley Christian and South Kamloops to drop to 0-3.
Meanwhile the triple-A boys provincial championship in Victoria, the Prince George Polars lost their opening match 2-1 to Winston Churchill of Vancouver, but rebounded with a 2-0 triumph over Burnaby Central. The Polars complete the day facing Reynolds of Victoria at 7:30 p.m.
Two Prince George teams are ranked in the top-10 at the triple-A girls provincial championship in Dawson Creek and they are set to play each other in their opening match Thursday.
The fourth-ranked Duchess Park Condors face the ninth-ranked College Heights Cougars at 10:30 a.m. on the Memorial Arena court.
The Prince George Polars also qualified for the girls triple-A provincials and will play Stelly’s of Saanichton Thursday at 11:45 a.m.
At the double-A girls provincials in West Vancouver, the Shas Ti Kelly Road Grizzlies open against John Barsby of Nanaimo Thursday at 11:15 a.m..
See other story posted earlier on the Citizen website for single-A provincial previews.
