Dawson Creek Continues To Build On Success At The Junior Level

Located roughly 1,200 kilometres north of Vancouver is Dawson Creek, B.C. – not exactly where you’d expect find one of the best Senior Girls Volleyball teams in B.C.

After all, Dawson Creek is home to less than 13,000 people and known more for having some pretty frigid winters than volleyball.

But that stereotype is changing quickly thanks to 12 young ladies who make up the Dawson Creek Penguins Senior Girls Volleyball team.

Over the past calendar year, several members of the team have been a part of winning a Junior Girls Provincial Championship in 2017 and two members of the team won a BC Summer Games Gold Medal in 2018.

This year’s Penguins squad is currently ranked No. 4 in the province, boasting a 25-4 overall record, with their only blemishes coming at the hands of an Alberta school (Charles Spencer, No. 9 in Alberta, AAAA Girls), and three teams from California during a recent tournament the girls played in San Diego.

The secrets to the Penguins success so far: teamwork and hard work.

“Our team isn’t star-based and it’s always hard singling someone out as the MVP because we have girls that all play their role within the team really well,” said Aaron Powell, head coach. “We have girls that strictly play front row and some that are defensive specialist and they all buy in and play their roles really well.”

And while the Penguins success this year has been a team effort, Powell did mention a few of his more versatile players who are able to suit up at multiple positions.

“Gabby Capelle, she’s our one Grade 10 player and plays left-side, right-side and in the back row for us,” said Powell. “She serves really well and was one of the girls who was on the Gold Medal winning BC Games team. We have a six-foot-two middle, Julia Evans (the other member of the Gold Medal winning BC Games team), who’s Grade 10 age but she skipped a year of school. She’s pretty much unstoppable when she’s on. Our left-side hitter, Kate Powell can play all positions, serves well and passes well. And our setter, Aidan Armitage, plays every minute of every game for us. She’s the glue that holds the team together.”

Powell also noted that the team’s success hasn’t happened over night, with a lot of the girls playing together since Grade 7 & 8, with the goal of winning Junior Provincials. Something the bulk of the team achieved last year.

“We’ve told them from a young age, that if we’re going to be in this gym, we might as well push to be the absolute best,” said Powell. “When they were young, they played a lot of games that they lost, but they’ve always had a goal of getting better and hanging in there with the better teams and pushing themselves to get better by playing better teams.”

Up next for the Penguins, a pair of tournaments (one at home and one in Grande Prairie, AB.) and then they will host the zone qualifying event for BC High School Provincials.

“Our goal for the rest of the year is to qualify for Provincials,” said Powell. “As successful as we’ve been, it’s one tournament to qualify and there’s some good teams up here…especially, College Heights and Prince George.”

Around the province, the biggest noise was made by Lord Byng who shot up to No. 6 in AAAA Girls rankings after winning the Ogopogo Classic over Kelowna, dropping them to No. 7 in the rankings. They also knocked off Handsworth in the semifinals, dropping them to No. 8.

In the AAA Girls rankings, most of the top-10 remain unchanged, with Nanaimo District jumping up to No. 7 after a fifth place finish at Camosun College’s tournament.

In the AA Girls rankings, Chilliwack’s GW Graham rocketed into the top-10 to claim the No. 4 spot.

And in the single A Girls Rankings, Kelowna’s Aberdeen Hall moved up to the No. 2 spot in the province.

The rankings may get a bit of a shake up this weekend as Kelowna plays host to several high-ranked schools at Best of the West.

Below are the full High School Girls Volleyball rankings, as of Oct. 10, 2018.

AAAA Girls Volleyball Rankings

  1. Belmont (Victoria) (1)
  2. Earl Marriot (Surrey) (3)
  3. Oak Bay (Victoria) (9)
  4. Moscrop (Burnaby) (4)
  5. Lord Tweedsmuir (Surrey) (5)
  6. Lord Byng (Vancouver) (NR)
  7. Kelowna (2)
  8. Handsworth (North Van) (6)
  9. Seaquam (Delta) (7)
  10. Riverside (Coquitlam) (NR)

AAA Girls Volleyball Rankings

  1. Little Flower Academy (Vancouver) (1)
  2. Crofton House (Vancouver) (2)
  3. Carihi (Campbell River) (3)
  4. Dawson Creek (4)
  5. College Heights (Prince George) (5)
  6. Prince George (6)
  7. Nanaimo District (10)
  8. Elgin Park (Surrey) (7)
  9. Timberline (Campbell River) (9)
  10. South Kamloops (NR)

AA Girls Volleyball Rankings

  1. York House (Vancouver) (1)
  2. St Thomas Aquinas (N Van) (2)
  3. Langley Fundamental (3)
  4. GW Graham (Chilliwack) (NR)
  5. St Thomas More (Burnaby) (4)
  6. Brentwood College (Mill Bay) (5)
  7. Pacific Academy (Surrey) (7)
  8. MEI (Abbotsford) (10)
  9. West Point Grey (Vancouver) (9)
  10. Sahali (Kamloops) (NR)

A Girls Volleyball Rankings

  1. Unity Christian (Chilliwack) (1)
  2. Aberdeen Hall (Kelowna) (5)
  3. Nanaimo Christian (3)
  4. Kelowna Christian (2)
  5. Sparwood (4)
  6. Elkford (7)
  7. Fernie (6)
  8. Stratford Hall (Vancouver) (8)
  9. Southpointe Delta (9)
  10. Vancouver Christian (NR)