The Queen Charlotte Secondary School’s senior girls volleyball have won the Northwest Zone Championship for the first time in over 20 years. Without even being ranked in the start, the girls went on to beat Ebenezer Christian Reform School, which was ranked 10th in the province.
The Northwest Zones were hosted in Smithers by the Bulkley Valley Christian School, who the QCSS girls also beat during the tournament.
The girls are now on their way to Castlegar B.C. for the Provincial Championship Dec. 3, where they will be trying to win it all.
“I am very proud of the girls,” Coach Lee-Al Nelson said.
The last time the single A senior girl’s volleyball team from Queen Charlotte won the zones was in 1994. The school board has put up the funds to get the girls to the games in Castlegar, but the team will have to fundraise the money when they return. The Sr. Girls volleyball team will be selling Christmas baskets and conducting other fundraising efforts to make up for the borrowed money.
Coach Nelson has been coaching most of the girls on the team since they were in Grade 8.
Mr. Nelson himself has a strong volleyball history, even playing against the some of same schools his team had beaten this year, when he was young. The sport of volleyball has grown in popularity in the past couple years and Mr. Nelson had seen over 30 young girls come out for the sport during tryouts.
“We have had a lot of parent support,” Mr. Nelson said. The team is now on their way to show the province what QCSS girls are made of.