The Mount Douglas Rams defeated the Fleetwood Park Dragons 2-1 (25-13, 23-25, 15-9) to win the 2022 Peace Arch News Senior Girls Volleyball Tournament. Strong hitting by Olivia Pederson and Kali Hart led the Rams to victory in game one.
However, Trinity Mayencourt and Eliana Gerbrandt led the Dragons to a hard fought 25-23 victory in game two, Pederson then took over the match and powered Mount Douglas to a 15-9 win in game three. In the Bronze Medal match McMath of Richmond knocked off the Grandview Heights Grizzlies 2-0 (25-17, 25-21) with Anna Vevantsova and Caitlin Kippan leading the way for McMath.
Both Semi-final matches were classics and featured some of the best volleyball of the year as Mount Doug defeated McMath 2-1 (23-25, 25-20 ,15-13) in a tight, hard-hitting battle. The other semi-final saw Fleetwood Park take out Grandview Heights with a 2-1 (25-12, 24-26, 16-14) victory. In game three the Grizzlies were up 14-10 but the Dragons won six straight points to take the deciding game.
In the consolation matches R.E. Mountain defeated Elgin Park to take the 9th place match and host Semiahmoo Thunderbirds defeated the South Delta Sun Devils to take 13th place.
Tournament All-Stars were Keira Murphy (Grandview Heights), Caitlin Kippan and Anna Vevantsova (McMath), Trinity Mayencourt and Eliana Gerbrandt (Fleetwood Park) and Kali hart (Mt Douglas). The MVP of the tournament was Olivia Pederson of Mount Douglas.
The tournament took place on Friday (Oct. 21) and Saturday (Oct. 22) at Semiahmoo Secondary.
Of the 18 squads that took part, most were from Surrey, including a handful of South Surrey teams: the host Semiahmoo Thunderbirds, Grandview Heights Grizzlies and Elgin Park Orcas.
Other Surrey schools on the docket included Salish Secondary, Fleetwood Park, Sullivan Heights, Guildford Park, Kwantlen Park, North Surrey and Panorama Ridge.
READ MORE: 18 teams set to vie for Peace Arch News Classic volleyball title
The 2021 event marked the return of the tournament – which has been staged on the Semiahmoo Peninsula since the late 1980s – after the ’20 event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2019 event was won by the Mission Roadrunners, who defeated Semiahmoo in the gold-medal game.
-With files from Nick Greenizan