The schedulers of the PacWest women’s volleyball league must have known something when they mapped out the final weeks of the regular season.
In what has evolved into a two-tier league on the provincial collegiate circuit, the top three teams are about to gnash spikes for spikes, giving a potential preview of the provincial championships in three weeks time.
With two wins separating first from third, the rivalry between the Vancouver Island Mariners, Capilano Blues and Douglas College Royals couldn’t be tighter. All three teams meet over the next few weeks.
And while Royals coach Jeff Ross says a league title would be great, a strong finish and some momentum would be the big catch coming out of the regular season.
“I think everything is flowing the way I’d like to see, so if we can continue building towards the playoffs we will be where we want to be,” said Ross.
The Royals currently hold down second place with a 14-4 record, just one game-back of first-place Vancouver Island, and just a game ahead of Capilano University.
Fresh off last week’s solid sweep of College of the Rockies (3-1, 3-0), Douglas continues to stockpile confidence-boosting decisions in the season’s second half.
Not that they were doing too shabbily before the holiday break.
But since then, they’ve filibustered their competition to the tune of 16-7, a boost from November’s 13-10 set score.
Ross feels the team’s balance and chemistry are the big difference makers.
“The girls have come a long way since the first semester,” he said. “It’s more a process of hard work and how they’ve done a great job pushing each other.”
When scanning the individual stats, that balance appears to be the cement to their on-court glue.
Although no Douglas College player tops any of the five statistical categories, Royals are well represented when it comes to tallies.
Third-year veteran Georgia Hurry is second in blocks with an 0.97 per set average, while teammates Autumn Davidson (sixth) and Vania Oliveira (eighth) also crack the top-10.
Third overall in digs is second-year Claudia Corneil, with a dig average of 3.39 per set after 18 matches. Captain Juliana Penner, meanwhile, is fifth in kills, putting up 3.08 per set, and first-year Vicki Schley sits ninth overall. Among all offensive stats, Penner sits fifth overall and Oliveira ninth.
This week, the Royals visit Victoria’s Camosun Chargers, before returning to wrap it up with matches against VIU (Feb. 10 and 11) and Capilano (Feb. 18).
