Camosun College starts its 18th year of athletic programs with one of its spotlights on the Chargers women’s volleyball team, who had a disappointing run last year.
When the team gets into action this month, there are high hopes that this year will be an improvement upon the last. The 2011/2012 roster is made up of nine new faces to lace up and take the court for the first time. Returning athletes Elizabeth Davis, Jenna Brown, Mariah Holmstrom, and Suzanna Campbell are four out of the seven second-year athletes, some of whom you may have already seen around the Lansdowne campus.
This year’s roster is full of talent and there are many key players to watch. Specifically, keep an eye out for Campbell, who proved herself last season and earned the BCCAA all-rookie title, as well as second-year right side Brown.
Early in the preseason, Brown played against the VIU Mariners and produced a game-high 12 points, and may have even more to show everyone this season. Brown is positive about the games ahead of her.
“We have a good group of girls this year and we have all been training really hard,” says Brown.
Last season, the women’s volleyball Chargers left their fans feeling disappointed and thinking about what could have been. The team fell just short in the BC Colleges’ Athletic Association conference standings, finishing fifth in a league of seven teams.
This year, the club is confident in the changes they’ve made and think they can be more successful. The Chargers head coach Chris Dahl is entering his second year with the Chargers and has expressed the need for overall improvement to his players.
“We are involved in a high-performance sport,” says Dahl. “There’s a lot of work to be done before we’ll be able to compete for a championship, but this has definitely been identified as something we aspire to accomplish.”
Brown believes the players are up to Dahl’s challenge and are ready to implement the coach’s season-long plan.
“He wants us to win more games this season, so that’s what we are going to have to do,” says Brown. “We’re out there to have fun, but we know what is expected of us.”