With nine returning Grade 12 players, the SMUS Senior Girls Volleyball team boasts plenty of experience this season and the Blue Jags will lean on that as they transition back up to the AAA high school level.
“We’ll be very competitive on the Island,” says Head Coach Melanie Bendfeld. “Many of the girls on this team have been part of our program since middle school.”
Two seniors figure to play a significant role for the Blue Jags – 5-foot-11 middle blocker Nicola Bevington, who is beginning her third year with the SMUS Senior squad, and Grade 12 newcomer Maggie Stiel, who will both set and hit for the squad. This edition of the Blue Jags has good size, highlighted by Mikaela Dube, a 6-foot-2 Grade 11.
“We are a team with a lot of versatile players who can play multiple positions,” Bendfeld says. “We have a group of multi-dimensional players.”
The Blue Jags are playing in the Lower Island Tier 1 league, along with six other competitive AAA schools – Stelly’s, Esquimalt, Parkland, Vic High, Edward Milne, and Lambrick Park. They began their league season as part of a four-team bill this past Tuesday at Oak Bay, winning four of their six games in the round-robin format. SMUS beat both Victor Brodeur (25-6, 25-11) and Spectrum (25-19, 25-15) and dropped a closely contested match with host Oak Bay (19-25, 22-25).
The Blue Jags’ first home action of the season will come on Tuesday, Oct. 14, as SMUS hosts a Lower Island league date including Pacific Christian, Claremont, and Reynolds.
SMUS will play an ambitious tournament schedule that includes a half-dozen events, beginning with the annual Spikes and Aces tournament at Spectrum this coming Friday and Saturday. Slotted into Pool C for the tournament, the Blue Jags will face Lambrick Park (12 noon); Burnaby South (3:30 pm), and Shawnigan Lake (5:50 pm) in their preliminary round games on Friday.
The team is also scheduled to play in the Vancouver Island University tournament in Nanaimo, Sept. 27 and 28; the Camosun University tournament at PISE, Oct. 3 and 4; the Brentwood Invitational, Oct. 17 and 18; and the Independent Schools Athletic Association (ISAA) tournament, Oct. 24 and 25 at Brentwood.
The Blue Jags figure to face plenty of tough competition during that tournament schedule, which will help prepare them for the Island AAA Championships, Nov. 14 and 15 at Esquimalt. The top four out of seven South Island AAA teams will qualify for Islands.
Bendfeld believes Stelly’s, Brentwood, Esquimalt, Ballenas, Gulf Islands and Carihi are among the Island AAA favourites this year. She expects her SMUS squad to be in the hunt, too.
Last season, the Blue Jags finished second to Brentwood in the Island AA tournament before placing 15th in the province. Making the BC AAA tournament, which is scheduled for Nov. 27 to 29 in Vernon, figures to be a tough task, although the number of Island berths up for grabs has yet to be determined.
“Our season goal is to qualify and have a strong, top-four showing at Islands,” Bendfeld says.
Bendfeld has been the SMUS Senior Girls Volleyball head coach since 2010. She is assisted on the bench this season by Allison Higinbotham and Chantelle Dobie.
