Volleyball B.C.’s Grade 10 Girls Volleyfest last weekend featured plenty of Richmond flavour as teams gear up for the upcoming city championships.
The McMath Wildcats, McRoberts Strikers, Cambie Crusaders and Richmond Colts were all participants in the two-day tournament which was part of Volleyball B.C.’s ‘Days at the Dome’ series that takes place at the Harry Jerome Sports Centre in Burnaby.
Three of the local teams reached Sunday’s quarter-final round that included an all-Richmond match-up between the Wildcats and the Strikers. McMath edged its cross-town rivals in two highly-entertaining and competitive sets — 26-24, 25-20.
The Wildcats then fell 2-0 (25-14, 25-18) to Burnaby Central before bouncing back to defeat Windsor in a thrilling bronze medal match — 25-12, 20-25, 15-13.
Cambie finished third in its pool group and needed an extra win over Sutherland (25-21, 25-21) to reached the final eight. The Crusaders then bowed out of championship contention with a loss to Van Tech (25-16, 25-18).
In earlier pool play, McMath captured its group without dropping a set with wins over Pemberton, Burnaby South and Windsor.
The Strikers nearly did the same, finishing second with a 2-1 record after defeating Centennial and Charles Tupper, before dropping a three-setter to first place Delta.
The Crusaders took third place in their pool group which was highlighted by a tight three-set win over the Colts — 25-21, 14-25 and 15-10.
All four teams will wrap up their regular season schedule over the next week then turn their attention to what should be a highly-competitive Richmond Championship.
McMath currently sits with a 7-0 record followed by the Colts, Strikers and Steveston-London at 5-1. The Crusaders are at 4-3 but that includes tight three-set losses to McMath and McRoberts.
Cambie will host the final two days of the city playoffs — Nov. 6 and Nov. 9 — which will also provide berths to the Vancouver and District Championships for the top three teams.
