Knights knock off kingpins in AA girls' qualifiers

An upstart St. Thomas More Knights volleyball team is peaking at just the right time.

The third-place league finisher upset both league champion St. Patrick's and runner-up Little Flower Academy en route to the independent league playoff title.

The Knights then defeated St. Thomas Aquinas of North Vancouver 2-1 in the AA Lower Mainland final.

"Our team is peaking at the right time," said firstyear senior STM coach Becky Lang. "We're start-ing to really click and are reaching the potential I knew they could."

Senior power hitter Samantha Drescher and Grade 10 middle Meghan Ho played key roles in boosting the Knights' qualifying hopes.

But Lang maintained it was really a full team effort.

"We really do have a good starting six or seven," Lang said.

In league playoffs, STM knocked off runner-up Little Flower Academy before beating Vancouver rival St. Pat's for the first time in three previous matches this season, fash-ioning a 3-1 victory.

Later at the Mainlands, STM defeated STA twice, both by a similar 2-1 score, to earn the top zone seeding.

Lang is hopeful that result will give the Burnaby independent a top-five seeding into the provincials.

Five is also the number that Lang believes the Knights could finish up with as well at the B.C.'s.

"We want to finish in the top five," Lang said.

This year's B.C. AA tournament will be co-hosted by Vancouver independents Notre Dame and St. Patrick's from Dec. 1 to 3.