North Peace senior girls’ volleyball punch their way to provincials with dominant zone playoff victory

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — The senior girls’ volleyball team from Fort St. John’s lone secondary school will be heading south for a chance at provincial glory later this month. 

The North Peace Secondary School (NPSS) Grizzlies senior volleyball team had little trouble dispatching Prince George Secondary School (PGSS) in their best-of-three series in the North Central District Schools Athletic Association (NCDSAA) playoffs at the NPSS gymnasium.

The Grizzlies girls won game one in straight sets, and rebounded from a first-set loss in the latter contest to win in four sets.

Winning the series in two consecutive matches on Friday, November 14th and Saturday, November 15th means the Grizzlies’ senior girls will represent the North Central zone in the ‘AAAA’ volleyball provincials in Kelowna from November 27th to November 29th.

NPSS senior girls’ volleyball head coach, Alex Olsen, told Energeticcity.ca her squad can improve upon last year’s sixth-place showing. 

Earlier this month, the team secured a top-ten placing for the first time in Olsen’s tenure.

“I think we show similar potential to what we had last year,” said Olsen. “I’m hopeful that this year we can go down and we can exceed our placement of last year.

“All of our seniors play a very critical role in setting the tone for the junior players that are new.  Everyone is able to provide leadership in their own way, whether that’s in skill or a team-building kind of mentality of positivity and energy and intensity.”

The senior boys’ Grizzlies were not as fortunate, losing to PGSS in consecutive matches and being eliminated from contention.

Head coach Scott Hyde said his squad featured a strong group of players, and was “really happy” with his team despite being unable to head to Langley for the ‘AAA’ provincial volleyball championship.

“We thought this was the best wave of not just athleticism, but volleyball players we’ve seen in a while,” said Hyde. “The expectation was to earn a spot in provincials. But credit to Prince George. They played really well, were a little more consistent and played better defence.”

For more details on the NPSS Grizzlies volleyball teams, visit the team’s Facebook page.