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Provincials hardly a guarantee for top 10 ranked Sun Devils

South Delta part of new South Fraser Zone that features six dominant AAAA teams
volleyball
South Delta's Morgan Bouchey in action against Lord Tweedsmuir on Tuesday night in Cloverdale during South Fraser Premier League play.

The South Delta Sun Devils could be ranked in the top 10 all season and still not go to the provincials. That’s the reality of B.C. senior girls volleyball’s group of death — better known as the South Fraser Zone.

When B.C. School Sports revamped their zones and added two to the Greater Vancouver area, the new South Fraser region was created with schools from Delta, Surrey and Richmond. For most sports it means a more favourable path to provincial qualifying compared to the former Fraser Valley route but not for girls volleyball in the largest tier.

Richmond doesn’t even have a AAAA size school but Surrey and Delta certainly do and they are filled with powerhouse teams. Last week’s provincial rankings featured five South Fraser schools. A sixth — the Seaquam Seahawks — began the season among the top 10.

The Seahawks are guaranteed a berth as the host team of next month’s B.C. AAAA Championships. That leaves the current five teams in the rankings scrapping it out for the four berths available. It’s a far cry from the Fraser Valley days when as many as eight berths were up for grabs.

“We’re lucky they are going with a 20-team format and Seaquam is hosting as normally it would be three (berths),” said  South Delta head coach Dan Burgess. “Even with all that there is going to be a top 10 team not going.”
The eight-team South Fraser Premier League features the six AAAA powerhouses — Lord Tweedsmuir, Earl Marriott, Semihamoo, Elgin Park, South Delta and Seaquam, along with Pacific Academy and Surrey Christian, ranked No. 1 and No. 10 respectively at the AA level.

The No. 9 Sun Devils fell to 1-2 in regular season play with a straight set loss (17-25, 24-26, 18-25) to No. 2 Tweedsmuir Tuesday night in Cloverdale. That came on the heels of a five-set defeat to No. 7 Marriott a week earlier.

South Delta had opened its schedule with a straight set win over Seaquam and have shown well elsewhere, including a runner-up finish at the 24-team Camosun College in Victoria last weekend. 

“We have had a really good start and part of that was beginning the season in Las Vegas in August. We had eight kids there and two away tournaments already. I was saying to the girls they already have a very good volleyball culture going,” continued Burgess.

“At Camosun, the tournament director said it was really hard picking all-stars on our team not because we don’t have any but because all our girls play at a very high level. It’s great but we also are hoping a couple can take it up to another notch with the support around them. When you look at those top teams, they have one or two players that can dominate at certain times.”

Burgess, who is once against being assisted by Gatlin Saip this season, is carrying a big roster with 15 players. It’s an ideal split with six Grade 11s gaining some valuable experience at an elite level for next season.

Senior outside hitter Faith Kwiatkowski  earned all-star honours at Camosun, as did Grade 11 libero Haley Reid. 

The team also features: Grade 12s- Ginny Nichols, Sarah Foster, Caroline Wolsey, Monica Muszynski, Nicola Bancroft, Hillary Nelson, Sophia Buckley, Gaby Rondou and Grade 11s Logan Newis, Sophie Schuurman Hess, Amy Hendrickson, Morgan Bouchey, Kiara Sherritt.

The Sun Devils will take on Semiahmoo on Oct. 21 (6 p.m.) at Delta Secondary and host Pacific Academy two nights later (7:30 p.m.).