The Moscrop senior girls volleyball team has its gaze set on the near-future.
Yes, there remain a good number of games yet to be played, but so far the Panthers are firmly entrenched in first place of the Burnaby-New Westminster league at 4-0.
Last year’s sole local survivor in a battle for a provincial AAAA berth – besting Walnut Grove 3-1 in a must-win wildcard game – Moscrop has its sights on playoffs.
“Our sights are definitely set on Lower Mainlands,” remarked first-year head coach Dania Robinson.
Last week the Panthers handled Robinson’s former squad, Burnaby Central 3-1, after topping Burnaby Mountain by a similar score two weeks ago.
As defending Burnaby-New West league champions, Moscrop has a blueprint in which they are basing their playoff expectations. They’ve also got the players.
This year’s roster is more balanced and experienced than the one that squeaked into the provincials last season. While they are a serious group – consisting of seven Grade 12s and six Gr. 11s – they still find the joy of playing, said Robinson.
“This is a really fun team. They are always playing music, dancing, joking around and we keep the mood pretty up beat during both practice and games. But when it’s time they know how to buckle down and work. They are very hard on themselves to perform to the best of their ability, sometimes too hard,” she said.
Co-captains Raeanne Sun and Claire Bates lead by example, providing encouragement and positive reinforcement on and off the court. Bringing both experience and versatility to the lineup is Gr. 11 Mari Wong, who played up last year with the senior squad.
“(Wong is) a truly do-everything player – she played libero on last year’s (senior) team, setter on her club team and is a power hitter this season.
“She is a go-to hitter who will be key to the success of this team in the upcoming playoff games,” added Robinson.
The returning seven welcomed the new players with open arms, she noted.
“I can tell the seven returning players have grown very familiar playing with each other and I’m sure this is due to their experience at provincials last year,” said Robinson. “However it has been easy to integrate the new Gr. 11 recruits into the team. Everyone has been very welcoming and supports each other fully.”
Moscrop’s next test comes tonight (Wednesday, 6 p.m.) when they visit 1-2 Burnaby North, while 0-3 New West goes to Burnaby Mountain (2-2).
In other recent scores, Burnaby South blanked New Westminster 3-0 and Burnaby Mountain won a close battle, 3-2 over Burnaby North
