Taylor Rocca
With round-robin action in the books, the playoff picture is set at the 2014 4A B.C. Girls Provincial Volleyball Championships.
Cranbrook’s Mount Baker Secondary School (MBSS) will face a tough test as they take on the tournament’s top-ranked Argyle Secondary School Pipers in the first round of playoff action Friday at 10 a.m. (Court 1, MBSS).
The MBSS Wild battled hard but fell into fourth place in Pool D after losing three matches to Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary (20-25, 27-29), Handsworth Secondary (18-25, 25-17, 6-15) and Oak Bay High (27-29, 18-25).
With third place in Pool D on the line Thursday afternoon, the Wild and Oak Bay High School Breakers went back-and-forth in a tightly-contested opening set. After falling behind late in the set, the Breakers stormed back to steal a 29-27 nail-biter from the Wild.
Needing a second-set win to push the match to a third and decisive set, the Wild came up empty-handed as Oak Bay maintained its first-set momentum en route to a 25-18 victory.
In Pool A, the top-ranked Argyle Secondary School Pipers took first place after rolling to three straight-set victories. In their closest match of the day, the Pipers edged the Earl Marriott Mariners, who finished second in Pool A after defeating Terry Fox Secondary School and Mount Boucherie Secondary School.
The Terry Fox Secondary School Ravens, claimed third in Pool A with a straight-sets triumph (25-14, 25-17) over the Mount Boucherie Secondary School Bears, who rounded out Pool A in fourth.
In Pool B action, the Riverside Secondary School Rapids finished first after cruising to three straight-sets wins.
After falling to Riverside, the Elgin Park Secondary School Orcas rattled off two consecutive wins over David Thompson Secondary (25-16, 25-14) and Belmont Secondary School (25-13, 25-14) to claim second place in Pool B.
With a win over David Thompson Secondary (25-21, 25-10), the Belmont Bulldogs snuck into third place in Pool B.
Pool C also saw an unblemished first-place finish as the Kelowna Secondary School Owls went undefeated Thursday.
The Moscrop Secondary School Panthers bounced back from an opening loss to Kelowna (16-25, 24-26) to defeat North Peace Secondary School (25-16, 25-16) and North Surrey Secondary (25-13, 25-12) en route to finishing second in Pool C.
The North Peace Secondary School Ookapiks edged into third in Pool C after defeating North Surrey (25-18, 25-20).
Handsworth Secondary School took first place in Pool D with victories over Lord Tweedsmuir (26-14, 25-18) and Oak Bay (25-22, 25-11) in addition to the win over Mount Baker.
First-round playoff action begins Friday at 10 a.m. at both Mount Baker Secondary School (MBSS) and College of the Rockies (COTR).
Winners of round one advance to the quarter-finals, which get underway at 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. Friday afternoon. Consolation play begins Friday at 2:20 p.m.
The gold medal match is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Saturday evening following the bronze medal match (4:30 p.m.). Both matches will be played at Mount Baker Secondary School.
Pool A Standings: 1) Argyle Secondary; 2) Earl Marriott Secondary; 3) Terry Fox Secondary; 4) Mount Boucherie Secondary
Pool B Standings: 1) Riverside Secondary; 2) Elgin Park Secondary; 3) Belmont Secondary; 4) David Thompson Secondary
Pool C Standings: 1) Kelowna Secondary; 2) Moscrop Secondary; 3) North Peace Secondary; 4) North Surrey Secondary
Pool D Standings: 1) Handsworth Secondary; 2) Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary; 3) Oak Bay High; 4) Mount Baker Secondary
Friday Playoff Schedule
10 a.m.1) Argyle Secondary (1A) vs. Mount Baker Secondary (4D) (MBSS, Ct 1)2) Riverside Secondary (1B) vs. North Surrey Secondary (4C) (MBSS, Ct 2)3) Earl Marriott Secondary (2A) vs. Oak Bay High (3D) (COTR, Ct 3)4) Elgin Secondary (2B) vs. North Peace Secondary (3C) (COTR, Ct 4)
12 p.m.5) Kelowna Secondary (1C) vs. David Thompson Secondary (4B) (MBSS, Ct 1)6) Handsworth Secondary (1D) vs. Mt. Boucherie Secondary (4A) (MBSS, Ct 2)7) Moscrop Secondary (2C) vs. Belmont Secondary (3B) (COTR, Ct 3)8) Lord T’smuir Secondary (2D) vs. Terry Fox Secondary (3A) (COTR, Ct 4)
2:20 p.m.Consolation Game #1 - Loser of Game 1 vs. Loser of Game 4 (MBSS, Ct 1)Consolation Game #2 - Loser of Game 2 vs. Loser of Game 3 (MBSS, Ct 2)Consolation Game #3 - Loser of Game 5 vs. Loser of Game 8 (COTR, Ct 3)Consolation Game #4 - Loser of Game 6 vs. Loser of Game 7 (COTR, Ct 4)
4 p.m.13) Quarter-final #1 - Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 4 (MBSS)14) Quarter-final #2 - Winner of Game 2 vs. Winner of Game 3 (COTR)
6 p.m.15) Quarter-final #3 - Winner of 5 vs. Winner of 8 (MBSS)16) Quarter-final #4 - Winner of 6 vs. Winner of 7 (COTR)
Saturday Condensed Playoff Schedule
10:30 a.m.21) Semifinal #1 - Winner of Game 13 vs. Winner of Game 16 (MBSS)22) Semifinal #2 - Winner of Game 14 vs. Winner of Game 15 (COTR)
4:30 p.m.Bronze Medal Match - Loser of Game 21 vs. Loser of Game 22 (MBSS)
6:30 p.m.Gold Medal Match - Winner of Game 21 vs. Winner of Game 22 (MBSS)
Visit the Mount Baker Secondary School website for the full schedule.