A fifth place finish to earn the last berth to provincials hasn’t dampened the spirit of the Penticton Secondary School junior girls Lakers volleyball team.
“We are going in to this ready to turn some heads,” said coach Bruce McElroy. “I feel we will be competitive with the teams in our pool. They have played teams we have matched up against and we have faired well against those common opponents. If we play to our capability, we could find some success in our pool play.”
The junior girls Lakers squad will compete at the provincial championship this weekend in South Surrey facing Dawson Creek Secondary, Langley Fundamental and Killarney Secondary School.
Last weekend at the Valley Championship held in Kamloops, the Lakers had a tough start going 0-3 in pool play against Kelowna Secondary School, South Kamloops and Vernon Secondary. In crossover play on Saturday, the Lakers played well against eventual champion Okanagan Mission but lost 25-27 and 25-19. A rematch against Vernon found the Lakers on the winning side and they carried that momentum into the game against Sahali, handily dispatching them.
“Our commitment to defence and keeping the ball in play while reducing errors helped us win that game. Our passing improved which allowed us to run our offence the way we wanted to,” said McElroy.
Coaches of the other high school junior volleyball teams could not be reached by press deadline for results.