Handsworth and St. Thomas Aquinas female volleyball players battled it out at finals on all levels at the North Shore district championships last week.
Handsworth Secondary won three matches while St. Thomas won one. The senior girls coach Alan Ahac, who oversees the program at Handsworth, said it was bit of an “oddity” to have them matched up at all four levels, senior, junior, bantam and juvenile.
“It’s a reflection of the good programs at these schools,” he said.
In best-of-five matches, the Handsworth senior girls beat St. Thomas 3-0, the Handsworth juniors defeated St. Thomas 3-1, the St. Thomas juveniles (Grade 9) beat Handsworth 3-1 and in Grade 8, the Handsworth bantam girls won 3-0.
Moving into the Vancouver and district regional competitions, the senior girls will face some tough competition from Vancouver’s Lord Byng, ranked second in the province, and Burnaby’s Moscrop, Ahac said. But North Shore senior girls teams can stay competitive in this group, he added, and he thinks the school’s teams at other levels will as well.
“I think Handsworth and STA in all those categories, they truly are strong, not only within the North Shore but in the whole region,” Ahac said.
Historically, Handsworth’s senior girls have been in the top four teams in B.C. over the past five years.
“Whether they can do that again remains to be seen,” Ahac said.
This year, the senior team is defensively strong, but they have to become a good blocking team as well, he said.
The team is a bit younger this year than in previous years, with more Grade 11s than Grade 12s, Ahac explained.
“That’ll be a challenge, tough going into the provincials without that experience,” he added.
Ahac has been volunteering as a coach with the senior girls at Handsworth Secondary for about eight years and he’s been overseeing the entire girls program during this time.
“It’s great to see them growing up, not only as volleyball players, but as young adults,” he said.
The Vancouver and District Championships take place this week. North Shore will host the junior championships at Handsworth on Thursday.
