The pandemic may have scrubbed the 2020 B.C. senior girls volleyball season, but nothing can stop the Varsity Letters annual B.C. Super 15 poll. Among this season's top players are (left to right) Kelowna Owls' Anya Pemberton and Madison Shanks, Sydney Wright of Surrey's Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers, Madison Gardner of Vernon's W.L. Seaton Sonics and Eva Person of Victoria's Stelly's Stingers. (Photo by Paul Yates property of Vancouver Sports Pictures 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Volleyball

Our 12th annual edition: Who are B.C.’s Top 15 Grade 12 girls volleyball players? Check out our 2020-21 Dream Team!

LANGLEY — Way back in December of 2009, when UBC Thunderbirds’ head coach Doug Reimer floated an idea past me to honour the best girls and boys high school volleyball players in B.C. on an annual basis, little did either of us know that a dozen years later, the concept would be as fresh today as was the day we started.

In fact so determined was the panel of B.C.-based women’s university volleyball coaches when contacted about the 2020 edition earlier this fall, that despite the fact that the pandemic had wiped out both the Grade 11 club and Grade 12 high school seasons of the student-athletes in question, they still insisted on casting their votes.

So thank you to Reimer, UBC OKanagan’s Steve Manuel, Simon Fraser’s Gina Schmidt, Trinity Western’s Ryan Hofer, Thompson Rivers’ Chadd Grimm, and the latest addition: Fraser Valley’s Janelle Rozema.

The votes are in (readers may note that the women’s coaches tally based on one point for first, two for second, etc, while the men tally in reverse order with 15 points for first place, etc.) and once again, a stellar class is ready to move forward into the post-secondary chapter of their playing careers.

To read all about the 2020 winner, click here.

And our thanks to Vancouver Sports Pictures’ Paul Yates for providing all of the photographs you see here today. Paul, your loyalty to Varsity Letters and your belief in the importance of high school sport in this province are so very much appreciated.

Happy holidays! — Howard Tsumura

Emoni Bush of Campbell River’s Carihi Tyees is Varsity Letters’ 2020-21 B.C. senior girls volleyball Player of the Year. Bush will next season head to Seattle and join the Pac 12’s Washington Huskies. (Photos by Paul Yates and Jon Hayduk property of Vancouver Sports Pictures 2020. All Rights Reserved)

1 Emoni Bush

School — Carihi (Campbell River)

Height — 6-foot-3

Position — Outside hitter

Poll points — 6

Freshman’s Future — Washington (NCAA)

Little Flower Academy volleyball star Lucy Borowski is headed to the UBC Thunderbirds this coming U SPORTS season. (Photos by Paul Yates and Jon Hayduk property of Vancouver Sports Pictures 2020. All Rights Reserved)

2 Lucy Borowski

School — Little Flower Academy (Vancouver)

Height — 6-foot-1

Position — Setter/outside hitter

Poll points — 13

Freshman’s Future — UBC (U SPORTS)

Kelowna’s Anya Pemberton (16) rises up to make a block during the 2019 provincial tournament at the Langley Events Centre. (Photos by Paul Yates and Jon Hayduk property of Vancouver Sports Pictures 2020. All Rights Reserved)

3 Anya Pemberton

School — Kelowna

Height — 6-foot

Position — Middle blocker

Poll points — 17

Freshman’s Future — Arizona State (beach) (NCAA)

4 Jaeya Brach

School — Eric Hamber (Vancouver)

Height — 6-foot-1

Position — Outside Hitter

Poll points — 24

Freshman’s Future — Western (U SPORTS)

5 Talia Attieh

School — Pacific Academy (Surrey)

Height — 5-foot-11

Position — Middle blocker/outside hitter

Poll points — 30

Freshman’s Future — Douglas College (CCAA)

6 Chloe Ladd

School — George Elliot (Lake Country)

Height — 5-foot-10

Position — Libero/outside hitter

Poll points — 41

Freshman’s Future — York (U SPORTS)

7 Olivia Tymkiw

School — Kalamalka (Coldstream)

Height — 6-foot

Position — Outside hitter

Poll points — 44

Freshman’s Future — UBC Okanagan (U SPORTS)

Ezawa Malish of Burnaby’s St. Thomas More Knights. (Photo property NOW Newspapers 2020. All Rights Reserved)

8 Ezawa Malish

School — St. Thomas More (Burnaby)

Height — 6-foot

Position — Middle blocker

Poll points — 56

Freshman’s Future — Simon Fraser (NCAA)

Madison Gardner of Vernon’s Seaton’s Sonics rises to put down a kill. (Photos by Paul Yates and Jon Hayduk property of Vancouver Sports Pictures 2020. All Rights Reserved)

9 Madison Gardner

School — W.L. Seaton (Vernon)

Height — 6-foot-2

Position — Middle blocker

Poll points — 62

Freshman’s Future — N/A

Stelly’s Stinger Eva Person will join the NCAA program at SFU next season. (Photos by Paul Yates and Jon Hayduk property of Vancouver Sports Pictures 2020. All Rights Reserved)

10 Eva Person

School — Stelly’s (Victoria)

Height — 5-foot-10

Position — Setter

Poll points — 65

Freshman’s Future — Simon Fraser (NCAA)

11 Taryn Grandia

School — St. John Brebeuf (Abbotsford)

Height — 5-foot-11

Position — Outside Hitter

Poll points — 69

Freshman’s Future — Trinity Western

12 Kylie Kampman

School — Unity Christian (Chilliwack)

Height — 5-foot-8

Position — Outside hitter/libero

Poll points — 76

Freshman’s Future — N/A

13 Lexi Prefontaine

School — Kelowna

Height — 5-foot-10

Position — Setter

Poll points — 78

Freshman’s Future — UBC Okanagan (U SPORTS)

14-tie Claire Stewart

School — York House (Vancouver)

Height — 6-foot

Position — Middle

Poll points — 87

Freshman’s Future — N/A

14-tie Megan Haynes

School — Fleetwood Park (Surrey)

Height — 6-foot

Position — Outside Hitter

Poll points — 87

Freshman’s Future — N/A

Others receiving votes

Madison Shanks

School — Kelowna

Height — 6-foot

Position — Outside hitter

Poll points — 88

Freshman’s Future — N/A

Tamara Jurosevic

School — Magee (Vancouver)

Height — 6-foot-1

Position — Outside hitter

Poll points — 94

Freshman’s Future — N/A

Sydney Wright of Surrey’s Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers is headed to the Fraser Valley Cascades this coming season. (Photos by Paul Yates and Jon Hayduk property of Vancouver Sports Pictures 2020. All Rights Reserved)

Sydney Wright

School — Lord Tweedsmuir (Surrey)

Height — 6-foot

Position — Middle blocker/outside hitter

Poll points — 97

Freshman’s Future — Fraser Valley (U SPORTS)

Sasha Haldane

School — Caledonia (Terrace)

Height — 5-foot-11

Position — Outside hitter

Poll points — 109

Freshman’s Future — Thompson Rivers (U SPORTS)

Madison Maichin

School — Seaquam (North Delta)

Height — 5-foot-8

Position — Libero

Poll points — 119

Freshman’s Future — N/A

If you’re reading this story or viewing these photos on any website other than one belonging to a university athletic department, it has been taken without appropriate permission. In these challenging times, true journalism will survive only through your dedicated support and loyalty. VarsityLetters.ca and all of its exclusive content has been created to serve B.C.’s high school and university sports community with hard work, integrity and respect. Feel free to drop us a line any time at howardtsumura@gmail.com.

One thought on “Our 12th annual edition: Who are B.C.’s Top 15 Grade 12 girls volleyball players? Check out our 2020-21 Dream Team!

  1. Amazing players!

    Congratulations to all of the Grad 2021 volleyball players who showed tenacity and resilience to keep up their high performance training despite the 2020 club and the high school seasons being cancelled.

    FYI: to find out who is going where in U Sports, you can see this constantly updating LOI (Letter of Intent) link and sort for the sport you want to see https://usports.ca/hq/eligibility/letter-of-intent

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *