INSIDE DOUGLAS COLLEGE / MARCH 5, 1991

 

 

Royals Poised for Playoffs

kay, okay, those first-place

honours in the regular season
are nice, but now five Douglas Col-
lege teams set their sights on that
serious playoff silverware.

In case you’ ve lost track of all
the winning streaks, three Royals
teams completed their BCAA
seasons in top spot, men’s and
women’s basketball and badmin-
ton; women’s volleyball finished
tied for first but slipped behind
‘Trinity Western in the tie-breaking
formula while the men’s volleyball
team finished fourth.

Athletic director Betty-Lou
Hayes said the strong records can’t
hurt in the recruiting derby next fall.

“Success builds on success,”
said Hayes. “Athletes go back to
their old high schools and the
word of mouth gets out about our
programs.”

In men’s basketball, the Royals
easily won their fifth-consecutive
game by thumping Vancouver
Community College 89-66. The
win clinched first place for the
Royals with 10-2, but soured the
swan song for retiring VCC coach
Dune McCallum, who is leaving
the Falcons after 20 seasons.

‘Taras Maslechko and Vern
Knopp scored 14 points apiece to
pace the win. The Royals ad-
vanced to face the Cariboo Chiefs

 

Trite Court

by Walter Melnyk

uring his pre-season stints as the professional amateur, sportswriter

George Plimpton had donned Boston Bruins’ goalie gear and pret-
zeled himself backwards in his crease, allowing a laughable goal in the
Philadelphia Spectrum. He also knocked himself unconscious by collid-
ing with a goalpost while quarterbacking the Detroit Lions. So, after I fell
on my can while hopelessly pursuing a lob by Canadian women’s bad-
minton champ Sian Deng, I was confident of maintaining the genre’s il-

lustrious history.

Deng, 27, an ESL student from Shanghai, and the defending national
champ Douglas College team are hosting the B.C. championships on
March 9. ‘To publicize the event, it seemed like a good idea to let Deng hit
a few birds with a lumbering writer. Besides, I had fond memories of
something I think was called “badminton” from the backyards of my

youth,

After a few moments rallying with Deng, it clearly must have been a

different game.

The first clue came when | asked the soft-spoken Sian if she had any

advice for me before our match.

“Get warmed up before we play,” she said. “You will be tired

tonight.”

Further consolation wasn’t coming from athletic director Betty-Lou
!ayes who had cruised by to watch the carnage. “ You know, Sian rarely
even surrenders a point lo her opponents during league play,” said
Hayes, adding Deng had waltzed to a 11-5, 11-2 win in 1990's collegiate
final. Oh great, and Deng says she’s been working out two hours a day,

five days a week since then.

I then discovered that when playing a really good badminton player
continued on next page

in a best-of-three semifinal series
last weekend.

In women’s hoop, the Royals
also captured first place by cruis-
ing to an 83-51 win over the VCC
Falcons. Backed by tenacious
rebounding and a strong press, the
Royals ran their halftime lead to
52-17. Five Royals clicked into
double figures, led by Carrie
Carlsen with 21; Carol Stanfords
had 14, with 11 apiece from Lor-
raine Denis and Stephanie Mac-
Lellan and Erin Thomas with 10.

The win catapulted the Royals
to third place in national collegiate
rankings. The College hosted
Capilano College in a best-of-three
semifinal series over the last
weekend.

In women’s volleyball,
Douglas College won nine-of-10
games to win three matches at
Selkirk College’s tournament. The
Royals swept CBC and Capilano
in straight games before defeating
the hosts 15-3, 15-9, 9-15, 15-1.
Staci Martin led the way with 21
kills while Teresa Ascoii had 15
and Camie Letham had 10.

After losing their first match
of the season, the Royals com-
pleted the season with 17-consecu-
tive wins, tying them with Trinity
Western University; TWU was
awarded first place on the basis of
their early win over Douglas Col-
lege.

In men’s volleyball, the Royals
completed the season in fourth
place with a 13-5 record after win-
ning three-of-four games at
Castlegar. Douglas College beat
CBC in four games, swept
Cariboo, lost to Selkirk in three
and then rebounded to defeat
Royal Roads. Both volleyball
teams now advance to the playoffs
beginning March 9 at TWU.

The defending national cham-
pion Douglas College badminton
hosts the provincials here on
March 9. &