Kelowna's Madelyn Hettinga capped her senior season with another B.C. title, as well as No. 2 on our list of B.C.'s Top 15 girls Grade 12 volleyball talents. (Photo by Vancouver Sports Pictures property of VSP 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Volleyball University Women's Volleyball

Our 11th annual edition: Who are B.C.’s Top 15 senior girls Grade 12 volleyball players? Check out our 2019-20 Dream Team!

LANGLEY — B.C.’s best senior girls Grade 12 volleyball players from the Class of 2019-20 were determined by a vote involving the head coaches of B.C.’s four U Sports programs — UBC, UBC Okanagan, Thompson Rivers and Trinity Western — as well as NCAA Simon Fraser.

Simon Fraser's Farnaaz Johal has emerged as one of the rising young stars on a Clan volleyball team riding a five-game GNAC win streak into a four-game homestead beginning Thursday atop Burnaby Mountain. (Photo by Paul Yates property of Simon Fraser Clan athletics 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Women's Volleyball

Clan ‘creating their own luck’ as preparation, opportunity meet to give SFU volleyball chance to set new program GNAC win streak on ‘Dig Pink’ night

BURNABY — You’ve no doubt heard about the concoction produced from that time-tested recipe, the one where preparation meets opportunity?Simon Fraser head volleyball coach Gina Schmidt isn’t denying the existence of old-fashioned good luck at various points of the five-match win streak her Clan (7-3) carry into the start of a four-game Great Northwest Athletic […]

The late West Vancouver Highlanders' senior girls volleyball head coach Mike MacNeil was an inspiration to so many, including current Simon Fraser Clan volleyball star Betsie de Beer (second from right). (Photo by Jo-Anne McKee property of West Vancouver Secondary athletics 2019. All rights reserved)
Feature High School Girls Volleyball University Women's Volleyball

SFU’s Betsie de Beer: Clan volleyball star’s homage to her late high school coach Mike MacNeil reminds us all of the power of mentorship

BURNABY — Betsie de Beer doesn’t try to hide the fact that she is playing her final season of collegiate volleyball with a heavy heart.At the same time, however, Simon Fraser’s talented 6-foot-1 outside hitter and health sciences major can’t exactly offer a scientific explanation as to why of late, that heart of hers has […]

Who's going where? Victoria-Belmont teammates (l to r) Jocelyn Sherman and Taylee Pomponio are off to SFU and Camosun respectively, while North Vancouver-Windsor's Aaron Voth heads to UBC Okanagan. (Photos property of Paul Yates, Vancouver Sports Pictures, and Wilson Wong, UBC athletics 2019. All rights reserved)
Feature University Men's Volleyball University Women's Volleyball

Varsity Letters’ B.C. Recruits List 2019: Where 151 volleyball prospects are headed this coming season

LANGLEY — It’s the second day of Varsity Letters’ B.C. Recruits List week. Yesterday we opened with football, and we’ve got soccer on Thursday and basketball on Friday. Today? We’ve got women’s and men’s volleyball!

Having not thrown the javelin since late in her high school career six years ago, Simon Fraser redshirt senior Lauren Fridman nonetheless qualified for the NCAA Div. 2 national championships beginning Thursday in Texas. (Photo by Paul Yates property of Simon Fraser Clan athletics 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Track and Field University Women's Volleyball

SFU’s Lauren Fridman: How a second-chance wind swept the Clan senior and her rookie javelin all the way to NCAA nationals

BURNABY — Lauren Fridman always felt she had a second wind as a collegiate athlete, yet she never figured it would be strong enough to sweep her off her feet and give her the ride of a lifetime.

They started the Canada West season 0-3, but they got it done when it mattered most. UBC beat Ryerson to win its eight national crown for longtime head coach Doug Reimer on Sunday in Edmonton. (Photo by Don Voaklander/Golden Bears and Pandas Athletics 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Women's Volleyball

A No. 8 seed and an epic rally! How UBC women’s volleyball found its mojo just in time to win an unlikely national title

It’s starting libero had retired from the game. One of its key middle blockers had left for the entire first semester to pursue academic opportunities on another continent. 

Earl Marriott's Arden Copping is part of Varsity Letters' Super 15 B.C. girls senior high school volleyball players of year. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2018. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Volleyball University Women's Volleyball

10th Anniversary Edition: Varsity Letter’s celebrates a decade of Super 15 excellence with our list B.C.’s top girls volleyball talent for 2018

LANGLEY — Welcome to our 10th birthday party!Yes, this idea hatched back in 2009 by B.C.’s community of post-secondary volleyball coaches while I was still on staff at  The Province newspaper, has now endured a full decade.Of course, we’re talking about the Varsity Letters’ Super 15, our annual list celebrating the best Grade 12 talent […]

Earl Marriott senior Cecilee Max-Brown was voted Varsity Letters' B.C. senior varsity girls 2018-19 Player of the Year by our panel of B.C.'s U Sports and NCAA coaches. (Photo by Justin Quinn provided by Academy Volleyball)
Feature High School Girls Volleyball University Women's Volleyball

Cecilee Max-Brown: Despite abbreviated high school career, Oregon State-bound hitter is Varsity Letters’ B.C. Girls Player Of The Year

SURREY — Her path to top in the world of B.C. girls high school volleyball was more than a tad bit unconventional.In fact, circumstances were such that Cecilee Max-Brown basically didn’t even suit up over her last two high school seasons.Yet the 6-foot-1 outside hitter who will graduate this spring from Surrey’s Earl Marriott Secondary […]

After leading Victoria's Belmont Bulldogs to back-to-back B.C. AAAA senior girls volleyball titles, Savannah Purdy has played a big role as a freshman in helping Trinity Western to the No. 1 spot in the latest U Sports women's volleyball national rankings. (Photo by Scott Stewart property of Trinity Western athletics 2018. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Women's Volleyball

Savannah Purdy: Trinity Western’s fantastic volleyball freshman already embodies the ethos of U Sports’ No. 1-ranked Spartans

LANGLEY — Ask Trinity Western women’s volleyball coach Ryan Hofer what the most challenging aspects have been for his star rookie hitter Savannah Purdy to adjust to in joining a line-up that has gone into the Canada West winter break as the No. 1 team in the nation, and he correctly amends the question.