The Chemainus Secondary School Cougars senior girls volleyball team is heading in the right direction at the right time.
There’s only one week remaining until the Cougars host the Island A senior girls championships in Chemainus and they wanted to be in top form as part of the preparations at the Cowichan Secondary School tournament in Duncan Friday and Saturday.
“I think we did really well,” said coach Kelsey Bell. “I think we played probably our best that we have all season.
“I found our girls are playing our game rather than our opponents’ game. Hopefully, we keep getting better and better.”
In pool play, Chemainus stepped up with a big game against Duncan Christian School, winning 25-20, 25-21, and also defeated the Cowichan Secondary juniors 25-14, 27-25.
A couple of other matches resulted in two-game losses, but not without inspired performances in both. Lake Cowichan nipped Chemainus 25-19, 26-24 and Alberni, a 4A school, did not beat the Cougars easily 25-16, 25-15.
Alberni was also coming off the tournament title in the DCS-Cowichan Secondary co-hosted event the previous week.
In the playoffs, Campbell River Christian defeated Chemainus 25-15, 25-16.
“The girls played so well this weekend compared to the previous weekend,” enthused co-coach Jennie Hittinger.
Julia Peterson was the tournament all-star for Chemainus.
“She not only held the team together, she played offensively this weekend,” noted Bell.
Jaymi Wallace and Natalie Craig played key roles in driving the offense again while Lauraen San Jose did a great job filling in for Jillian Rankin at libero.
“A lot of our rookie players when they were put in, they kept us in the game which was great to see,” said Bell.
Chemainus was also without Hannah Tuplin and Andrea Brooks. Brooks is expected to return from injury and be ready to go for the Island tournament.