Langley hopes to lure B.C. girls’ volleyball title event to Centre
The Langley Events Centre is hosting both the B.C. senior boys double- and triple-A championship tournaments beginning Wednesday, but the multipurpose athletic facility continues to remain ambitious in becoming the ultimate hub to provincial high school championship events.
While the top two tiers of boys volleyball are entering their third year of B.C. championship play at the LEC, talks will take place Wednesday with the aim of potentially bringing the B.C. quad-A girls tournament to the facility next season.
“Jason Winslade from LEC has been very supportive and they are going to talk and see if things can be worked out,” said Sharon Carter, the tournament director of this season’s B.C. boys championships.
Langley Events Centre is also the host site for six of the seven combined B.C. senior boys and girls basketball championships in March.
Carter is enthused with what she calls a “festival feeling” that has become a part of boys volleyball championship week.
“In the past, the model was having the championships hosted by a school at a number of remote sites, but we’ve got the ability here to have nine to 11 courts running nonstop,” Carter said. “I think it’s been exciting for the players to be able to walk down the hallways here and be able to watch teams from the different tiers. And Volleyball B.C. has really supported us well.”
The Kelowna Owls, who headlined the B.C. top-10 rankings all season, will go in as the No. 1 seed on the triple-A side of tournament, while the Langley Christian Lightning will go in as the top seed in the double-A championship draw.
Among the talent worth watching over the four days of competition are Fynn McCarthy of Lake Country’s George Elliott Secondary, Van Tech’s Colton Liu, super-leaping Colton Loewen of Abbotsford’s MEI Eagles, and Langley Christian’s talented Brodie Hofer.
Competition runs all week at the LEC with the triple-A final beginning 5 p.m. Saturday, followed by the double-A final at 7 p.m.
The girls will contest all four of its B.C. tournaments at separate sites around the province, all of which run Dec. 1-3.
Quad-A will be played at North Vancouver’s Handsworth Secondary, triple-A at Kelowna’s Okanagan Mission Secondary, double-A at MEI Secondary in Abbotsford, and single-A in Kelowna at Immaculata Regional High.