The Mt. Douglas Rams senior girls volleyball team have found new life late in their season.

Last weekend the crew lost their semifinal match of the Island AAAA championships to the host school G.P. Vanier. The result meant missing the automatic spot at the upcoming provincials that comes with a top two finish at Islands.

Unflappable, the Rams bounced right back from the loss to knock out Frances Kelsey for the bronze medal. Third place also came with a spot in the four-team wild-card playoff this Saturday at Yale Secondary School in Abbottsford. The wild-card winner makes it to provincials in Kelowna Nov. 27-29.

Joining Mt. Doug in the wild-card playoffs are host Yale, Prince George and Killarney of Vancouver.

Only halfway through November the month so far has had no shortage of playoff action. The AAAA South Island playoffs finished on Nov. 6, with Spectrum, Mt. Doug, Belmont and Claremont bumping out Oak Bay and Stelly’s, respectively.

The top four schools competed at the Vancouver Island Finals held at Courtenay’s G.P. Vanier on No. 14-15.

In round robin play, Mt. Doug defeated Frances Kelsey 25-20, 26-24, lost to Dover Bay 24-26, 6-25 and beat Claremont 25-17, 25-20. Placing second in their pool, the Rams faced Belmont, with Mt. Doug coming out on top 25-20, 25-17.

The win made the Rams the only school from the South Island in the final four. As mentioned earlier, G.P. Vanier would prevail in the semifinal by a score of 24-26, 25-17, 25-20, 17-25, 8-15 in a five-set match.

This put Mt. Doug in the bronze medal match against rival Frances Kelsey, last year’s provincial silver medalists, the latter of which had lost their semifinal to Dover Bay. Mt. Doug outlasted Frances Kelsey in their five-set match 24-26, 25-17, 13-25, 25-16 and 15-13 for third.

The eventual winner was Dover Bay over GP Vanier in the 5th games, 15-11

From Mt. Doug, Kira Marshall (right side hitter) was named to the all-star team after the tourney.

sports@vicnews.com