Ladysmith Secondary School (LSS)’s senior girls’ volleyball team is the second-best in B.C.
The 49ers have returned from the provincial championships, held Nov. 26-29 at Brentwood College, with silver medals.
“The girls peaked at the right time and had their best tournament of the year,” said coach Stephen Epp. “They left absolutely everything they had on the floor in the final, but we just came up a little short. All of them did an amazing job all weekend. I am extremely proud of them as a team.”
Ladysmith played Pacific Academy in the championship and fell 25-19, 25-10, 25-23.
Kelsey Hutt and Shelby Dorman-Banks were named to the First All-Star team, and Marika Grubac was named to the Second All-star team.
“We fought through a lot of injuries this year including some that occurred at the provincials, but none of them ever used that as an excuse and kept pushing themselves,” said Epp. “Robyn Bishop was on crutches between our playoff matches but managed to play every set of the event on one leg.”
Ladysmith made it to the championship game by beating DP Todd 25-27, 25-10, 25-19, 28-30, 15-10 in the quarterfinals and then defeating York House in the semifinals.
“Our semi-final win was huge for us, knocking off the No. 2 ranked team in the tournament,” said Epp. “They outsized us, but the girls played phenomenal defence the entire game. Taylor Ellis had a huge game for us in the semis and finished the game with the final kill to take the fifth set 15-13.”
In the round of 16, Ladysmith beat Princess Margaret 25-15, 25-21, 25-17. LSS went undefeated in pool play, beating Hatzic 25-22, 28-26, defeating St. Pats 25-12, 21-25, 15-10 and winning 25-15, 27-25 against Selkirk.
Ladysmith had gone into provincials ranked fourth in B.C. after winning the North Islands and the Islands.
Team members are Robyn Bishop, Shelby Dorman-Banks, Emery Urquhart, Kelsey Hutt, Taylor Ellis, Marika Grubac, Elise Keeping, Shayleen Magnan, Gabby Knoop and Madeline Hayton.