The Delta Secondary senior boys claimed the Fraser Valley volleyball championship on their home court last week, but that is just the first step in their journey.
Seeded number one at the tournament, DSS beat McMath last Wednesday night and then beat Steveston London from Richmond Friday night to win the banner.
Liam Froude and Arshaan Bilga were named tournament all-stars while Macin MacDonald was named tournament MVP.
DSS will now be seeded number three when the provincials start Wednesday (Nov. 29) at Oak Bay Secondary in Victoria.
“Super proud of the boys. A lot of work has gone into this over the whole season and in previous years for that matter,” said head coach Andrew Robson. “We talked about it all week that you don’t know how often you will get to be a number one seed and host a tournament like that. We had an opportunity to play well, have fun and that’s what they did. It was a full team effort and I can’t say enough about the whole group. They all contributed and made it all possible.”
Robson said the play of the whole squad has been getting better and better throughout the season.
“It was a unique year in that we had a few guys coming back, but a few Grade 10s that played significant roles as well, so it’s been fun to see them all come together in the past two and a half, three months and culminating with the South Fraser championships,” he said.
Robson said he is happy with the number three seed for the provincials.
“We have been as high as two this year. I think all the teams that are ranked in the top four all won their zone championships, so it didn’t make sense to switch up the ranking at all and with the format of the boys’ volleyball provincials, they do a power pool, so in theory seeds one through four are very similar,” he said. “We have a chance to take the one or two seed if we can win a few games in our pool heading into bracket play. We are thrilled with the three seed and we belong there.”
The school has one bronze medal all time from a provincial championship, so Robson said this year’s team is on a mission to change that.
“We have put ourselves in a good spot. The guys who were there last year have continued that leadership this year, so I fully expect that the guys will be focused and ready for the challenge,” he said. “We are going to do everything in our power to win the whole thing.”
