The Camosun Chargers’ teams were able to take home two medals this year from the Pacific Western Athletic Association (PACWEST) championships. The men’s basketball team won bronze, and the women’s volleyball team won silver. The men’s volleyball team fell just short of a medal, while the women’s basketball team had a rather disappointing season.
The Chargers men’s basketball team was able to have yet another successful season under the leadership of PACWEST Coach of the Year winner Geoff Pippus. They were able to cap it off by beating the Columbia Bible College Bearcats 90-72 to get the bronze medal. David Finch led his team with 26 points on the win.
Pippus has previously led the team to a bronze medal in 2023, a silver medal in 2024, and a fourth place in nationals, the highest placement in the team’s history.
Two players from the men’s basketball team also managed to join the Conference All-Star Teams. Finch made the Conference 1st Team All-Stars, averaging 15.4 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 3.2 assists per game. Jaime Palamos Molins made the Conference 2nd Team All-Stars, averaging 6.1 rebounds, 5.6 assists (leading the league), and 2.3 steals per game.
The women’s basketball team could not get anything going for them this season. Their home record was 1 win and 11 losses and their overall record was 4-20. The team was only able to score 57 points per game this season, which was the lowest in the league. The team ended their season by losing in the PACWEST quarterfinals against Douglas College 61-67. Taya Karsten was the team’s best player in that game, with a double-double, getting 10 points and 15 rebounds.
Only Kanda Diop salvaged the team this season. She made the Conference 2nd Team All-Stars, averaging 9.9 points and 10.5 rebounds per game.
The Chargers men’s volleyball team had a record of 10 wins and 10 losses in the regular season and just came short of winning a medal. The Chargers lost in the bronze medal game to Vancouver Island University (VIU) Mariners 3 sets to 0. Kristofer La Guardia was the Player of the Game in his last game as a Charger.
La Guardia won the PACWEST award for the Top Libero and was named for the Conference 1st Team All-Stars with 194 digs this season, which led the league. He also reached the milestone of 1,000 digs in his college career and became the player with the most digs in Camosun’s history, with 1,003. La Guardia retires as one of the best players to ever put on a Chargers uniform with two PACWEST gold medals and two Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association national gold medals.
Apart from La Guardia, the Chargers had Lachlan Scherger in the Conference 2nd Team All-Stars and Gabriel Spinelli in the All-Rookie Team. So, despite La Guardia leaving, the men’s volleyball team will be in good hands, adding a great recruiting class with names like Micah Snobelen, Jackson Boulding, and Dylan Young.
Similarly, the women’s volleyball team had a record of 10 wins and 10 losses during the regular season. The Chargers swept the Capilano Blues in the semifinals to get to the gold medal game. There, they were not able to beat the VIU Mariners to win gold.
Erica Bolink was the team’s top player throughout the season and was able to earn a spot in the Conference 1st Team All-Stars. Despite leading the league in kills with 318, 62 more kills than runner-up Aimee Skinner from VIU, and leading the league in aces with 73, 27 more aces than runner-up Skinner, Bolink was not awarded with either the Player of the Year award or the Top Outside Hitter award. Both were won by Skinner; it’s clear the voters chose team performance over individual performance despite it being an individual performance-driven award.
The women’s volleyball team also had two of the top 15 blockers in Chandelle Dobie and Tahlia Cook. The future looks bright for this team.