As expected, the Elgin Park Orcas came out on top at the Peace Arch News Classic last weekend.
At sixth in the 4A senior girls high school volleyball rankings, the Orcas were the lone team from the provincial top-10 at the tournament, which was played at Elgin Park and Semiahmoo Secondaries Oct. 24-25.
Led by tournament MVP Darby Dunn, the Orcas swept the Lambrick Park Pride 2-0 in Saturday’s championship match. Last year, Dunn was an all-star as the Orcas placed third.
The Pride were in front for much of the first set of the championship match, but Elgin Park rallied for a 25-23 win.
Lambrick Park fell behind early in the second set, then pulled to within two before falling 25-21.
Sally Mathews of Elgin Park and Steph Galatzine and Rina Zukeran of the runner-up Pride were selected to the all-star team.
Uncertainty caused by a strike by B.C. teachers at the start of the school year limited the field to just 16 teams this season, down from the 28 which competed a year ago, and the field included four junior teams.
One of those Grade 9-10 squads took home bronze medals, as the Langley Christian Lightning juniors defeated the Clayton Heights Nightriders 2-1 in a close match for third place. The Lightning came out on top 25-12, 21-25, 18-16.
Clayton Heights, ranked 10th in the 3A rankings, went up 11-6 in the deciding game before the Lightning scored eight consecutive points for a 14-11 advantage.
The Night Riders then surged ahead 15-14, just a point away from clinching the match when Langley Christian regained the lead.
Keira Fisher of the Night Riders earned an all-star nomination.