Senior Girls Volleyball
The SMUS Blue Jags have been busy preparing for the 16-team BC AA Senior Girls Volleyball Championships which begin on Thursday at Brentwood College.
The Blue Jags, the silver medallists from Vancouver Island, have been grouped in Power Pool D for preliminary-round play, along with DP Todd of Prince George, Charles Hayes of Prince Rupert and local rival Pacific Christian School of Saanich, the Island’s No. 3 entry.
In matches Thursday, SMUS will meet Charles Hayes at 11:15 am, Pacific Christian at 1:45 pm and DP Todd at 4:15 pm.
Other teams in the provincial tournament include Holy Cross of Surrey, Abbotsford Christian, Notre Dame of Vancouver, Southridge of Surrey, North Vancouver’s St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Thomas More of Burnaby, Fernie, Kalamalka, Langley Christian, York House of Vancouver, Richmond Christian and host and Island champion Brentwood.
The tournament will wrap up on Saturday.
Senior Boys Soccer
The SMUS Senior Boys Soccer team concluded its season with a victory and an 11th place finish in the BC AA Championships last Wednesday at Burnaby Lake.
The Blue Jags won two of their five games in the 16-team provincial event, including a 5-0 victory over Pacific Academy of Surrey in a dominant opening-game performance on Monday. Davis Hardy scored twice for SMUS in the win while singles came from Parker Sheehan, Manu Achuthan and Quinn McMeekin.
In its second game of the tournament later that day, SMUS dominated the play but emerged with a 1-0 loss to LV Rogers of Nelson. The Blue Jags had countless quality attempts on the Bombers’ net but couldn’t capitalize and they unfortunately conceded the lone goal of the game against the run of the play. Hardy, Achuthan, McMeekin and Camil Nacif Valle all created good opportunities as SMUS barely fell short of notching the equalizer.
That left SMUS in a difficult position on Tuesday morning in its final preliminary-round game, needing a win against a dominant Langley Christian side that would eventually reach the tournament final. Unfortunately for the Blue Jags, it wasn’t to be as they took a 5-1 loss, but not without a striking chip from Sheehan. SMUS won the second half with a strong performance by its defensive line, especially Marcus Lam.
That result pushed SMUS into the ninth- to 12th-place bracket of the tournament. In their first cross-over match on Tuesday afternoon, the Blue Jags fell 3-0 to Byrne Creek to put them in the 11th-place game on Wednesday. McMeekin turned in a stellar playmaking performance in the loss.
In Wednesday morning’s final game, SMUS played to a scoreless tie with Richmond’s Hugh McRoberts before the Blue Jags won 4-3 on penalty kicks. Alexander Zabaneh’s penalty kick sealed the 11th-place finish to conclude the Jags’ season.
Squash
The SMUS Squash team competed in the UVic Open this past weekend, highlighted by first-place finishes from three team members in their respective draws.
- Max Arndt of SMUS placed first in the Men’s B draw while Carsten Rodger topped Men’s C and Josie Quon was first in Women’s B.
- Mila Lampa finished second in the Women’s A draw, Justin Tam placed second in Men’s D and Kieran MacKay was third in Men’s B.
- SMUS grad Oliver Kerr was the tournament director for the competition.
The next event for the school’s Squash team is the SMUS Silver Series 2, December 6 and 7.
Boys Basketball
Once again, it was a thrilling finish to the SMUS Senior Boys Basketball Alumni Game on Saturday as this year’s Blue Jags pulled out a 78-76 win over the Alumni on a clutch three by Zaki Pelyhe off a feed from his brother Dani with just six seconds left. The basket capped a 19-6 run by the Senior Boys to complete a solid comeback over their predecessors.
The Alumni Game was preceded by a lively scrimmage between the Junior A and Junior B SMUS Boys’ teams in which the score was re-set every quarter as the players prepared to begin their seasons.
The Senior Boys will open with a 7:30 pm home game vs. Glenlyon Norfolk this Tuesday in the Single Gym. The Blue Jags will also travel to Duncan for the Quw’utsun Welcome Back Tournament, beginning with a 7:15 pm matchup against Wellington of Nanaimo on Thursday. The strong tournament field also includes defending BC 4A champion Spectrum, St. George’s of Vancouver, Belmont, Royal Bay and Nanaimo District Secondary.
The Junior A Boys will tip off their season with a league game at Royal Bay on Wednesday, starting at 7:15 pm. The Junior Jags will also take part in the Victoria Christmas Tipoff Tournament, beginning on Friday with a 7 pm game against the winner of an earlier game between Claremont and Nanaimo’s John Barsby.
The Junior B Boys will open their season with an exhibition game on December 5 vs. the Spectrum B Boys at 7:30 pm.
Girls Basketball
The SMUS Junior Girls will also take part in the Victoria Christmas Tipoff Tournament this coming weekend. The Junior Jags will meet the winner of an earlier game between Ballenas and Brentwood College on Friday at Spectrum, tipping off at 7 pm.
The SMUS Senior and Junior Girls will open their Lower Island league schedules with a December 3 doubleheader at Royal Bay, with the Junior game beginning at 4:15 pm and the Senior contest tipping off at 5:45 pm.
Athletes of the Month
A cross country standout and a field hockey star – Luc Denux and Caitlyn Mullen – were honoured recently as the SMUS Athletes of the Month for October.
Denux, a Grade 12 runner, finished second overall at the Island AA Cross Country Championships and seventh in the BC meet to help SMUS to first- and second-place Senior Boys team finishes, respectively, in those events.
Mullen, a Grade 12 co-captain at centre back, anchored her team’s defence and also scored eight goals as the Blue Jags won the Island AA title and finished fifth at the BC Championships, both events hosted by SMUS at UVic.
