Senior Girls Volleyball
The SMUS Senior Girls Volleyball team wrapped up a successful season with a 15th-place finish at the BC AA Championships hosted by Brentwood College this past weekend.
The Blue Jags opened Power Pool play on a winning note Thursday, beating Charles Hays of Prince Rupert 2-0. Charlie Anderson of SMUS was named Player of the Game.
“It was an excellent start for the squad with valuable contributions from a number of players,” said SMUS Head Coach Melanie Bendfeld.
The Blue Jags kept that momentum going in their second match, beating local rival Pacific Christian 2-1. “The first set was smooth with very controlled play and smooth transition play,” Bendfeld said. “The second set was very choppy, and hard for our team to find their flow. In the final set, our experience and confidence took over.” For the second straight match, Anderson was named Player of the Game.
SMUS dropped its third pool match 2-0 to DP Todd of Prince George. The Blue Jags struggled with serve receive, which prevented them from accessing their full offence. The SMUS Player of the Game in that match was Yanyu Zhang.
The loss left DP Todd, PCS and SMUS in a three-way tie in the Power Pool. Sets for and against were used to break the deadlock and the Blue Jags finished third.
That put SMUS into a matchup with second-ranked Notre Dame of Vancouver in a Friday best-of-five playoff quarterfinal in which SMUS dropped a 3-1 decision. Nicola Bevington was the Blue Jags’ Player of the Game in the loss to the Jugglers, who would eventually finish fourth in the 16-team tournament.
“Notre Dame was confident and polished in the first set,” Bendfeld said. “We managed to get them out of system in the second set to steal the set. The third and fourth sets were a battle, and Notre Dame took the match and moved on to the championship side of the draw while we moved on to the consolation side.”
Immediately following the Notre Dame match, SMUS had to play against Southridge, losing 2-0 to the Surrey school. “It was a battle with impressive play coming from the middle and right side from Izzy LeRoy, Nicola Bevington and Mya Beare,” Bendfeld said. Yanyu Zhang was named the SMUS Player of the Game for the second time.
Burnaby’s St. Thomas More beat SMUS 2-0 in the Blue Jags’ final match on Friday. “They were a very strong defensive team, but excellent transitional offence kept the team close,” Bendfeld said. Crystal Cai was the SMUS Player of the Game.
The Blue Jags wrapped up the BC tournament on Saturday with a victory, beating Charles Hays 2-0 in the 15th-place match. Anderson earned her third Player of the Game award of the tournament in that match.
“With strong teamwork and confident decisions, we closed out the tournament with a win,” Bendfeld said.
Abbotsford Christian won the BC title, beating Kalamalka 3-2 in the championship match.
Junior Girls Basketball
The SMUS Junior Girls Basketball team began its season in style, winning the Victoria Christmas Tip-off Tournament championship over the weekend at Spectrum Community School.
The Junior Blue Jags beat Courtenay Vanier 41-25 in the tournament final late Saturday afternoon, led by Mikaela Dubé’s 19-point performance and a dozen more points from Elspeth Rodger.
SMUS advanced to the final with a 52-27 victory over Nanaimo’s Dover Bay in a semifinal earlier Saturday. Dubé scored 19 points in the win while Rodger contributed 17.
Dubé poured in 38 points in the Jags’ tournament opener as they beat Ballenas 95-36. Linn Kuepper added 25 in the win while Rodger had 18.
The Junior Girls will play next on Tuesday as part of a Junior-Senior doubleheader at Royal Bay. The Junior game tips off at 4:15 pm.
The SMUS Juniors will also face York House in a 1:30 pm game on Friday that will open the Victoria Christmas Tournament at Belmont.
Senior Girls Basketball
The SMUS Senior Girls have been preparing for their season with a heavy practice schedule as they awaited the return of the volleyball players: Charlie Anderson, Mya Beare, Indigo Edgington and Crystal Cai.
The Senior Blue Jags will officially open their season with a league game at Royal Bay on Tuesday, tipping off at 5:45 pm. They will also face some stiff AAAA competition this weekend at the Victoria Christmas Tournament. Their opening-round matchup has the Blue Jags squaring off against Surrey’s Lord Tweedsmuir on Friday in a 1:45 pm tip-off at Claremont.
Senior Boys Basketball
The Senior Boys Basketball team went 2-1 and beat a pair of AAAA schools in the Quw’utsun Welcome Back Tournament, played Thursday through Saturday in Duncan.
SMUS got 19 points from Wil Woods and 14 from Dani Pelyhe as it beat the Nanaimo District Secondary Islanders 62-49 on Saturday morning to place fourth in the eight-team event.
The Blue Jags opened the tournament with a tough 98-84 loss to Nanaimo’s Wellington Wildcats. Hot-shooting SMUS was up big early in the game, before foul trouble and the Wildcats’ huge front line eventually wore down the smaller Jags. Guard Davis Hardy, who has gotten off to a terrific start in his senior season, was outstanding in that game, scoring 28 points while Dani Pelyhe had 14.
In its second game of the tournament, SMUS beat Belmont 73-52 behind Davis’s 25-point, eight-rebound, five-assist performance. Dani Pelyhe and Woods each added 15 points while Elliot Mairet contributed 14. Spectrum, BC’s top-ranked AAAA team, won the tournament, beating St. George’s of Vancouver 78-73 in the final.
In its first Lower Island AA league action last week, SMUS got 29 points from Hardy and 22 from Zaki Pelyhe to beat visiting Glenlyon Norfolk School 79-60.
The Senior Boys will travel to Pacific Christian for a league game this Tuesday, beginning at 7:30 pm.
Junior Boys Basketball
It was an up and down week filled with lots of learning for the young SMUS Junior Boys Basketball team, a lineup which this season includes eight Grade 9s.
The Junior Jags played very well in spurts and held a 10-point fourth-quarter lead before eventually falling 58-56 at Royal Bay in their Lower Island Division 1 league opener last Tuesday. Guard Alex MacKay led the way with 15 points in the tough loss while forward Aaron Williamson added 13.
SMUS next faced a talented Claremont team in its opener of the Victoria Christmas Tip-off Tournament on Friday at Lambrick Park. The Juniors battled Claremont tough in a very close first half before fading down the stretch in a 69-41 loss. MacKay again led the Blue Jags with 12 points against the eventual tournament champion Spartans, while point guard Manav Kang had eight.
SMUS earned its first victory of the season with a solid performance on Saturday morning against Dover Bay. After a shaky start that saw the Jags down 12-0, SMUS roared back to close the half on a 37-6 run and cruised to an eventual 52-37 win as every Blue Jag contributed positively. MacKay and Kang each scored 18 points in the win while Henry Lake had a strong game at forward with 12 points and a tough performance on the boards.
SMUS concluded its first tournament with a 62-47 loss to a veteran Spectrum Thunder squad. After being tied at the half, the Spectrum fullcourt pressure and a lack of defensive concentration caught up with the Blue Jags in the final two quarters. MacKay had 27 points in the loss while Kang added eight.
The Junior Jags travel to Mount Douglas for a 5:45 pm league tipoff this Tuesday. They will also play in a four-team exhibition series with Brentwood College, Quw’utsun and Oak Bay on Saturday at Brentwood.
