While all eyes remaining on the fortunes of both the Senior Girls and Senior Boys Volleyball, still due to complete their respective provincial tournaments, the basketball season got into full swing on many fronts over the past two weeks.
Basketball
On the girls' side, the Grade 6-7 Girls competitive team, led by Mikaela D., Helen M. and Isabella P. completed an unbeaten season with a narrow City final victory over Lansdowne. The Grade 8 Girls squad also enjoyed considerable success, though just failing to achieve its own perfect record when falling to Pacific Christian School in the championship match 46-32. Mya B. and Ellie L. were the team’s most consistent performers, with Clara C. playing her best basketball of the season in the playoffs.
At the Senior School, the Junior Girls opened their season with a solid win over Royal Bay 52-30. Olivia Vincent led all scorers with 14 points. In the Victoria Tip-off Tournament, SMUS cruised to the finals with wins over Claremont 71-28 (Charlie Anderson 13 points, Chioma Duru 12 points, and Vincent 12 points). A 77-10 win over GP Vanier in the semifinal, which saw all of the Blue Jags get on the scoresheet, set up the final game against Reynolds. SMUS was victorious 54-43 (Alex Motherwell 13 points, Duru 10 points, and Avery Geddes added 8 points).
On the boys' side, after slipping by Arbutus in the semis, the Grade 8 Boys avenged their only loss of the season, turning the tables on Colquitz in the City final. A huge performance by Dani P., key rebounds by Eliot T. and solid play by the rest of the crew produced a thorough 20-point victory.
Back at the Senior School, the Grade 9 Boys performed strongly, defeating Belmont in exhibition play before cruising through an exhibition tournament at Oak Bay. Wil Woods, Will Porter and Zaki Pelyhe were the pick of a deep and skilled group of players.
The Junior Boys opened with a comfortable league win at Royal Bay before claiming third place in the Spectrum Invitational tournament. Damon Bains and Kian Colgate both performed strongly, even as the team, especially offensively, looked to hit stride.
Meanwhile, the Stay Ready team, led by First Aswajesdakul and Leo Li, won three of four games at the Oak Bay Invitational, losing to the hosts but accounting for Belmont, Claremont and Queen Margaret's School.
Finally, the Senior Boys traveled to Cowichan Secondary for exhibition action. The Blue Jags, down 17 points mid-second quarter, fought back behind a trio of Grade 11 guards in Matthew Bennett, Oscar Lau and Max Clayton. Unfortunately, the hosts secured the final hoop of the game with just seconds remaining to win 70-69.
All of the above SMUS teams will be in action at various events around BC through the upcoming week.
Squash
In squash, SMUS travelled to Vancouver to compete in the BC Gold event. Facing many of the elite players in the province, Joshua Krueger, Katie Herring, Stuart Kerr and Nathan Ko all turned in notable efforts.
Fencing
Kudos also to Grade 10 student Jason Jiang, a relative fencing neophyte, who placed third in a local Senior Mixed Foil event. He fought his way through the tableau before eventually losing out to the eventual champion, a veteran of the sport for the past 26 years.
Vivat!
