Langley Christian Lighting are the defending provincial champions and the top seed at the four-day BC School Sports AA Boys Volleyball Provincial Championship that opened Wednesday, Nov. 29 at Langley Events Centre.
Last year, Langley Christian senior boys volleyball team finished their season by winning the provincial championship banner for the first time since 2017 at the AA provincial championship, which ran Nov. 30 - Dec. 3, at Pacific Christian School in Victoria.
It was a satisfying finish for a team that had competed in three straight previous gold medal matches (2019, 2021, 2022), coming second each time.
At the time, Lightning head coach Brynden McTavish, said the team’s rallying cry at provincials was “Let’s do difficult things.”
READ ALSO: After three silvers, Langley Christian Lightning wins gold at provincials
Sixteen teams are set to compete in Langley this week.
Host Lighting are in pool A with the Abbotsford Christian Knights (Abbotsford), Duchess Park Condors (Prince George) and South Kamloops Titans (Kamloops).
The teams were ranked one through four – in the above order — in the most recent BC School Sports polls, which were released on November 15.
Pool B features the M.E.I. Eagles (Abbotsford), D.P. Todd Trojans (Prince George), Victoria High Totems (Victoria) and Surrey Christian Falcons (Surrey).
In Pool C, it will be the Kalamalka Lakers (Coldstream), the W.L. Seaton Sonics (Vernon), the John Oliver Jokers (Vancouver) and the Esquimalt Dockers (Victoria).
And the Smithers Gryphons (Smithers), Kootenay River Bulldogs (Creston), Windermere Warriors (Vancouver) and Westview Wildcats (Maple Ridge) make up Pool D.
Each team were to play round-robin games within their pool on the first day before they are re-seeded for the playoff round.
Bronze medal match and gold medal championship games are scheduled for Saturday afternoon.
READ ALSO: Langley Christian cleans up in junior volleyball matchup
For tournament schedule, results and standings, click here. The games will also be available to stream at the BC School Sports YouTube channel.