In a year coach David Nelson thought his team would be in rebuilding mode they made it to an 11th place finish at the BC AAAA Provincials. (Dover Bay Athletics facebook)

By Dan Marshall

Net Results

Nanaimo’s Dover Bay senior girls volleyball team nets 11th place at provincials

Dec 5, 2019 | 4:14 PM

NANAIMO – Coach David Nelson was anticipating a rebuilding season for the Dover Bay senior girls volleyball team.

What he got was a team that earned a berth into the AAAA BC provincials and finished 11^th.

There wasn’t any league play over the 13 weeks of the season, however tournaments were held most weekends in the lead up to BC championships.

Nelson said the journey began right at the beginning of the school year.

“We started with tryouts the first Tuesday in September because the first tournament is a week and a half later. We practice three times a week and generally we have a tournament on the weekend.”

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It’s a heavy commitment for the kids, explained Nelson and he takes to time to work with the athletes on how to prioritize academics and athletics.

“We do spend one of our days before practice where the kids get together in my classroom and catch up some homework. We definitely reinforce that they are student athletes so school will always come first.”

On the court Nelson said there were some key Vancouver Island tournaments that put the Dover Bay girls in contention for provincials.

“Our strongest two tournaments were at VIU, where we finished second and Camosun where we finished fourth. We won the Ballenas tournament and that really set us up for playoff time.”

The provincials at the Langley Event Centre consisted of two tiers of high school boys and girls going on at the same time.

Nelson explained there were 20 courts set up with games going on at the same time.

Dover went 2-1 in the to finish second in their pool, but lost out to Seaquam in the playoff round.

Nelson has been with the program since 2008 and since that time the best results for the school have been a pair of sixth place finishes in 2014 and 2015.

The provincial tournament moves around to different locations and Nelson recently learned Dover will be the host in 2020.

“I’m excited to be hosting next year, it’s our third time. That’s a year from now but the work starts today.”

The interest level in the sport at Dover Bay is very high but Nelson noted that’s not unique to the school, it’s a province wide trend.

“Girls volleyball is the biggest sport in high school. It has the most teams, it has the most participants. It was the first high school sport (in BC) to go to four tiers from three in the mid 2000’s.”

As the senior girls coach Nelson, likes what he sees with heavy participation with the younger age levels as well.

He knows his program will be restocked with talent especially now that the next provincials are coming to Nanaimo.

“We’ve had a good program here for a long time. I love that the kids still want to come out and play. We had lots of Grade 8’s and 9’s and 10’s trying out for our teams this year so that’s exciting to see all that interest.”

dan@nanaimonewsnow.com

On twitter: @danmarshall77