Squash
SMUS Squash team members Anderson Brown and Lucas Quon travelled to Toronto this past weekend for the Ontario Junior Gold event–a National Junior Championship selection competition. Brown placed third in the U17 Division with a big upset over the second seed in the quarter-finals. Quon won the consolation draw in the U19 Division.
Meanwhile, 27 members of the SMUS Squash team competed in the Shawnigan Lake Silver Series B.C. Junior event last Saturday, highlighted by a third-place finish from Grade 9 Max Arndt in the Platinum Division.
SMUS teammate Gabriel Glyb, a Grade 11, placed fifth in Platinum. Other notable results for the SMUS team, coached by Sam Krich and Ryan Chow, included: Kevin Yin (Grade 10), fourth in the Gold Division; Justin Tam (Grade 10), fifth in the Silver Division; Apollin Lu (Grade 9), fourth in Bronze; and Kimberly Koo (Grade 10), fifth in Bronze.
Cross-Country
Race No. 2 in the Lower Island high school cross-country season proved to be even more exciting than the first one for the 17 SMUS team members who put their fitness to the test on the rolling hills of Beaver Lake.
Nella Meinecke ran to a first-place overall finish in the four km Senior Girls race, a result SMUS has not enjoyed in a league race in over a decade.
In the Senior Boys race, Owen Sandquist-Sherman finished second overall, with teammate Luc Denux placing not far behind in seventh. As a team, the SMUS Senior Boys finished in second place overall.
Senior Girls Volleyball
The SMUS Senior Girls Volleyball team was in fine form as Lower Island league play resumed on Sept. 26, with the Blue Jags going 5-1 over three matches.
SMUS beat 4A schools Belmont and Reynolds by 2-0 counts, and split with 2A Pacific Christian 1-1.
“We got well-rounded contributions from all players,” said Head Coach Melanie Bendfeld, adding that “serving and serve-receive are the main focus for the team at this point in the season.”
The Senior Girls also competed in the Douglas College Volleyball Classic over the weekend in Vancouver, reaching the quarter-final round of the second-tier playoffs in the 40-team event.
In pool play Friday, SMUS opened against George Elliot Secondary of Lake Country, B.C., falling 25-20 and 25-17, while concentrating on team defence against an experienced attacking opponent. In their second match, the Blue Jags fell 25-19 and 25-22 as they struggled with serve-receive against a tough-serving Burnaby North team.
SMUS rebounded to finish pool play with a 27-26, 25-21 win over Coquitlam’s Dr. Charles Best Secondary School. The Blue Jags executed their game plan well in this match, getting key blocking from Kate Fraser and Isabelle LeRoy, and key serving runs from LeRoy and Ava Gillespie. SMUS won the tiebreaker for third-place in its pool, allowing the team to avoid the bottom tier and sending it on to the second-tier playoffs.
The Blue Jags opened the playoffs with a 2-0 win over R.E. Mountain Secondary of Langley, by 25-17 and 25-20 scores. SMUS showed notable improvement on both serve-receive and backcourt defence from Grade 11 Emily Wu as starting libero. The Blue Jags also received consistent leadership, hustle, and aggressive offensive attack from newly named team captains Charlie Anderson and Gillespie.
In the second-tier quarter-finals, SMUS fell 25-17 and 25-14 to Burnaby Central.
“It was an outstanding team effort from all 12 athletes, just too many errors against a very solid defensive team,” said Bendfeld.
The next league action for the Blue Jags comes this week at Claremont Secondary, where the opponents are Claremont and Stelly’s, and Oct. 10 at SMUS, when the Blue Jags will host Mount Douglas and Royal Bay.
Senior Boys Volleyball
The SMUS Senior Boys Volleyball team split its Lower Island league games last week, highlighted by a 2-0 win over Belmont coming on 25-17 and 25-21 scores.
The Blue Jags also lost two close games against Vic High – a team SMUS Head Coach Brady Doland believes is probably the best amongst 2A and 3A teams in the Lower Island—and split a pair of games with Reynolds.
“It was a good start to the season,’’ Doland said, adding that Elliot Mariet provided great blocking and attacking and Connor Kipling fantastic setting and offence for SMUS.
The Blue Jags also competed in the Spectrum tournament over the weekend, losing to both Belmont and St. Patrick’s, and beating Ballenas to place third in their pool. SMUS beat host Spectrum in three sets (25-21, 20-25,15-10) to reach the consolation final where it lost to Courtenay’s Georges P. Vanier.
“Despite losing our first two games, the team came together and rallied and played great the rest of the tournament,” Doland said.
Junior Boys Volleyball
The SMUS Junior Boys Volleyball team opened its Lower Island league season last week at Belmont, sweeping Oak Bay in straight sets and splitting with both Mount Douglas and host Belmont.
The Blue Jags had a few nervous butterflies to deal with in their first match, but they quickly settled and took care of Oak Bay. The competition steepened against both Mount Douglas and Belmont as SMUS went 1-1 against each of those squads.
Blue Jags’ setter Remy Albert and his athleticism provided solid highlights for SMUS during these season-opening matches. SMUS also capitalized on the strong servings of Lachlan Bell and the backcourt defence of Martin Winnett.
Senior Girls Field Hockey
The SMUS competitive field hockey team has enjoyed a relatively quiet couple of weeks after its busy start to the season with the Friendship Cup.
The Blue Jags have played two Lower Island league games—a lopsided 5-0 win over Oak Bay and a 1-1 draw with Glenlyon-Norfolk School.
Oak Bay is fielding a much-weakened team this season, so SMUS camped in its opponent’s half and converted several clear chances, with Grade 10 newcomer Manon Denux scoring two goals, and Amelie Fleck recording the shutout with a very quiet afternoon in net.
SMUS matched up against a vastly improved GNS team on the water turf at UVic in its most recent league contest. Although the first few minutes featured even play from both teams, the Jags’ core grouping of Caitlyn Mullen, Mia Muller, Annabel Howard, and Avery Geddes gradually took a stranglehold on the game and pushed GNS into an increasingly defensive role.
This pattern continued for most of the game, but SMUS only managed to convert on one of its chances with a goal by Kendyll Adams. Despite constant SMUS pressure and some wonderful passing movements throughout the pitch, the upshot was a slender 1-0 lead. Unfortunately for the Blue Jags, GNS came downfield and scored right at the end of the match to finish with a rather fortunate 1-1 tie.
“Certainly the approach play from the SMUS team pleased the coaches, but the finishing meant letting GNS off the hook,” said Head Coach David Kerr.
This weekend, the team competes in the traditional Thanksgiving weekend Bridgman Cup tournament at UVic.
Senior Boys Soccer
The Senior Boys Soccer team dropped both its Lower Island league matches last week, falling 2-1 to St. Andrew’s and 4-2 to Lambrick Park. However, the team rebounded with its first league win of the season, a 4-0 decision over visiting Stelly’s this past Tuesday.
Against visiting St. Andrew’s, SMUS opened the scoring with a fantastic header from Will Woods on his first touch on the ball after being subbed on just minutes earlier. SMUS couldn’t hold that lead, however, as St. Andrew’s managed to score twice and the Blue Jags couldn’t come up with the equalizer, despite showing plenty of effort and determination.
Notwithstanding the loss at Lambrick Park, the two SMUS goals—both by Sam Bruninx—were highlight-reel material, including an impressive bicycle kick from just below the 18-yard line for Bruninx’s first tally. He recorded a hat trick, scoring the first three Blue Jags’ goals against visiting Stelly’s on Tuesday to help SMUS secure its first league win. Cole Michel scored the Jags’ fourth and final goal.
Grade 9 Rugby
The SMUS Grade 9 Rugby eam travelled to Vancouver this week, where it ran into a much more physical and experienced St. George’s side. The host Saints beat the Blue Jags eight tries to three in the exhibition contest.
There were some bright spots for the SMUS crew, however, including strong debuts from Pablo Ostos Arena and Eugene Leung, dangerous ball-carrying from Santiago Flores and Alfie Smith, top-notch leadership from captain Liam Whiteside, and unforgiving defence from Rodrigo De Leon and Remy Albert.
Next up for the team is a sevens tournament at Shawnigan on Oct. 12.
