The Steveston-London Sharks and McMath Wildcats will be the teams to beat at this week's Richmond Senior Volleyball Championships.
The Sharks capped a perfect (7-0) run in city league play with a hard fought 3-1 win over the McRoberts Strikers in a battle of provincially ranked teams in their size classifications. Steveston-London is an honourable mentione among "AAA" teams, while the Strikers enjoy the same status in the "AA" rankings.
Also expected to contend this week are the Richmond Colts and Burnett Breakers who both finished tied with McRoberts in the standings, all with 5-2 records. Burnett managed a 3-2 win over McRoberts back on Oct. 17.
The boys championship game is slated for 7 p.m. on Thursday night at Steveston-London.
Meanwhile, the Wildcats and Richmond Christian Eagles are heavily favoured to renew their rivalry in the girls playoffs tournament which takes place at McMath.
Both teams dominated city opponents with the Wildcats (10-0) handing the Eagles (9-1) their only loss (3-1) on Oct. 15.
McMath and Richmond Christian are currently ranked seventh respectively in the "AAAA" and "AA" provincial rankings.
The Wildcats final tune-up for the post-season was last weekend's Red Surge Tournament at Riverside secondary in Port Coquitlam which was loaded with provincially ranked teams.
They went 1-3 in pool play, losing to No. 2 AAAA ranked South Delta (1525,26-28), No. 5 Riverside (24-26, 22-25) and Charles Best (21-25, 19-25). They did manage to knockoff No. 4 Kelowna (9-25, 2515, 16-14).
Their run ended with a close loss to No. 8 Penticton in the quarter-finals, 23-25, 26-28
The Richmond girls final also takes place at 7 p.m. on Thursday.
