Blue Jags teams were in top form this week, turning in strong showings across multiple sports. Highlights included a top Island result for Senior Girls Field Hockey at the Bridgman Cup, solid league play from both soccer squads, and medal-winning volleyball performances as the fall season heats up.
Junior Girls Volleyball
The SMUS Junior Girls A Volleyball team earned a bronze medal this past weekend at the Spectrum Invitational tournament, an event that included some of the strongest teams from Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland.
“Playing with just nine of 11 rostered athletes due to Thanksgiving commitments, the team showed remarkable focus, resilience, and composure under pressure,” said SMUS Assistant Coach Jake Insley. “Across two full days of play, the girls demonstrated exceptional growth, refining their teamwork, communication, and intensity with every match.”
Insley added that the team’s “spectacular serving, defence, and offensive execution were on full display, highlighted by standout performances from Addie Tait, Fiona Davison, and Ali Brooks, who each played every match of the tournament.”
The Junior Girls will host Lower Island play this Thursday, including teams from Oak Bay, Reynolds, and Vic High, beginning at 4 pm. They will also play in a tournament at Belmont on Friday and Saturday.
Meanwhile, the Junior Girls Development Volleyball team won three of four Division 2 league games it played last week, beating Vic High 25-8, 25-15 and splitting with Spectrum 18-25, 25-14.
The Junior Development team will host league play on Wednesday, beginning at 4 pm, with teams from St. Andrew’s and Oak Bay participating. It will also play in the Belmont tournament on Friday and Saturday.
Senior Girls Volleyball
The Senior Girls Volleyball team won one of three Lower Island league matches it played last Tuesday at Belmont.
The Blue Jags beat Vic High 25–17, 25-16 and also fell to both host Belmont 20-25, 14-25 and Royal Bay 17-25, 22-25.
The SMUS Senior Girls will play their lone home league games this Tuesday. Teams from Reynolds, Claremont, and Pacific Christian will take part in the round robin beginning at 6 pm.
The Blue Jags will also take part in the Brentwood Invitational tournament this Friday and Saturday.
Junior Boys Volleyball
The SMUS Junior Boys Volleyball team defeated visiting Parkland 25–13, 25–9 in a Lower Island league match on Thursday afternoon.
The Junior Jags will travel to Stelly’s for more league play this Thursday, facing Mount Douglas and the host Stingers in action beginning at 4 pm. They will also play in a tournament at Spectrum this Friday and Saturday.
Senior Boys Volleyball
The SMUS Senior Boys Volleyball team split its six Lower Island league matches on Wednesday night at Vic High.
The Blue Jags defeated Esquimalt 25-13, 25-23, split with Vic High 23-25, 25-18 and dropped two to Pacific Christian 20-25, 18-25.
SMUS will host Stelly’s in a Lower Island best-of-five match this Wednesday, beginning at 6 pm.
Senior Girls Field Hockey
The SMUS-1 Competitive Field Hockey team was busy this past week, winning a Lower Island league game and then earning two victories, two ties and one loss in five games against an extremely strong field in the Bridgman Cup.
Played over the Thanksgiving long weekend at UVic, the Bridgman Cup featured 12 of the best high school teams in the province. The Blue Jags, ranked fifth among BC AAA teams, opened the prestigious tournament with a strong effort against Sentinel late Friday morning, winning 2-1 on goals by Elspeth Rodger and Julia Nemitz, the latter on a penalty stroke.
In the afternoon, SMUS played what was probably its best game of the season thus far. Despite missing three starters due to holiday commitments, the Blue Jags held the BC AAA No. 1-ranked Handsworth Royals to a scoreless tie in regulation before losing 3-2 in the ensuing shootout that determined the preliminary pool winner.
“It was an incredible defensive display with the players adhering to a strict coaching strategy superbly,” said SMUS Head Coach David Kerr.
Handsworth would go on to win the entire tournament and its matchup with SMUS was its lone tie against four wins. It was also the only Bridgman Cup game in which Handsworth did not score in regulation.
The Blue Jags then moved into a crossover quarterfinal game against BC No. 2 Crofton House, which resulted in a 1-1 draw with the SMUS goal coming on an opportunistic breakaway by Rodger. Unfortunately for the Jags, Crofton won the shootout 3-1. Crofton went on to play in the tournament final, where it lost 5-1 to Handsworth.
In their second game on Saturday, the Blue Jags fell 2-0 to provincially fourth-ranked Collingwood in another tough battle.
In its final game of the tournament on Sunday morning against local rival Glenlyon Norfolk School – the No. 1-ranked AA team in BC – SMUS delivered a “character” 3-0 win. Mackenna Brown, Manon Denux, and Olive Winters scored for the Blue Jags in the victory.
“The team ended up finishing a very credible seventh out of 12 teams in the tournament and was the top team on the Island,” Kerr said.
In league play on Wednesday, the Blue Jags defeated Reynolds 7-0, getting three goals from Rodger and singles from Brown, Nemitz, Winters, and Madeleine Howard.
Next up is a league game against GNS this Wednesday at UVic beginning at 3:30 pm. The Blue Jags will then have a weekend break from tournaments for the first time in four weeks.
The SMUS-2 Development team will also play a league game on Wednesday at UVic, taking on Reynolds at 4:30 pm.
Senior Boys Soccer
The SMUS Senior Boys Soccer team picked up a Lower Island Tier 1 league road win on Tuesday, defeating Belmont 1-0 at Goudy Turf. Milann Wenham scored the Blue Jags’ goal.
SMUS will travel to Tyndall Park to face Lambrick Park this Tuesday in its biggest league contest of the season, starting at 3:15 pm. The winner of that game will be the Lower Island’s top seed in the Island AA championships Nov. 3 and 4 at Carihi in Campbell River.
Meanwhile, in Lower Island Tier 2 league play last Tuesday, the SMUS Development team fell 6-0 to visiting Mount Douglas but showed improved and more organized play in the second half after going down 4-0 in the first. Every SMUS player saw action.
The Development team will host Pacific Christian this Tuesday at 3:45 pm and also face Reynolds on Thursday in a 3:15 kickoff at Braefoot.
Junior Boys Soccer
The Junior Boys Soccer team earned a win and a tie in its final two Lower Island league regular season games this past week.
The Junior Jags beat visiting Belmont 4-1 on Monday. Trailing 1-0 at the intermission, SMUS exploded for four goals in the second half. Alex MacKay led the way with a three-goal performance while Santiago Rankin had the other Blue Jags’ goal.
On Wednesday, SMUS played to a 2-2 draw in a first-place showdown with visiting Oak Bay. Will Hamilton and Avery Mavrikos scored for the Junior Jags against the Bays, who tallied in the final few minutes to pull even.
The results left SMUS in second place with three wins and two ties for 11 points while Oak Bay placed first with 13 points on four wins and a tie. The Junior Jags will host third-place Royal Bay in a playoff semifinal this Wednesday at 3:45 pm.
Cross Country
SMUS Cross Country teammates Ella Buckley and Piper Geddes recorded the school’s top finishes, placing eighth and ninth, respectively, in the Junior Girls four-kilometre race at last Thursday’s third Lower Island league meet of the season at Beaver Lake.
Buckley finished in 17:51, just head of Geddes at 17:54. Teammates Allegra Tollkin (23rd, 20:07), Ava Crawford (33rd, 21:38) and Iben Hamilton (35th, 21:48) also placed in the top 35.
Finlay Hlannon had the best SMUS finish in the five-kilometre Senior Boys race, placing 10th in 19:04 while teammate Michael Carpiano was 20th in 20:47. Sophie De Launiere of SMUS was 30th in the Senior Girls five-kilometre race while teammate Sophie Buckley placed 33rd in 28:22.
The fourth Lower Island league event goes this Wednesday at Royal Roads, beginning at 3:45 pm.
