Her comeback from a torn ACL suffered on the basketball court in her senior year of high school now over, UFV's Amanda Matsui has given her service to the sport of volleyball. (Photo courtesy Northfield Photography)
Trinity Western's Katie Devaney has the Canada West's all-time career blocks record well within her grasp. (Scott Stewart/Trinity Western athletics)
Feature University Women's Volleyball

Katie Devaney: From humble goals to huge presence, TWU’s star middle brings her true centre to Spartan nation

LANGLEY — Katie Devaney was convinced that she knew how to dream big. So five years ago, the senior volleyball star at Port Coquitlam’s Terry Fox Secondary School set in her mind, an ambitious goal to be a starter by the midway mark of her impending university career with Langley’s powerhouse Trinity Western Spartans.

North Delta's Seaquam Seahawks and the Earl Marriott Mariners of Surrey are both represented in Varsity Letters' Super 15 B.C. girls high school volleyball list. (Varsity Letters photo by Howard Tsumura)
Feature High School Girls Volleyball

The Varsity Letters’ Super 15! It’s our annual list of B.C.’s top senior girls volleyball players!

Welcome to what has now grown to a near full-decade tradition. It was back in 2009 when local university coaches first began their own poll for The Province newspaper to determine the B.C. high school girls volleyball Player of the Year.

Handsworth's Kayla Oxland was voted B.C.'s top girls high school volleyball players. (Photo courtesy Paul Yates/Vancouver Sports Pictures)
Feature High School Girls Volleyball

Kayla Oxland: Baby sister grows up, Handsworth’s UBC-bound setter sets pace as Varsity Letters’ Player of the Year

LANGLEY — Over our first eight years of joining forces with the head coaches at UBC, Simon Fraser, Trinity Western, UBC Okanagan and Thompson Rivers universities to select our annual B.C. high school girls volleyball Player of the Year, a universal truth has revealed itself.

Twice as nice. Victoria's Belmont Bulldogs (left to right) Gracie May, Taylee Pomponio, Olivia Godek, Hannah May and Savannah Purdy celebrate their second straight B.C. AAAA volleyball title Saturday at the Langley Events Centre. (Paul Yates, Vancouver Sports Pictures)
Feature High School Girls Volleyball

Bulldog believers: With early disaster averted, Belmont girls perform on pressure-packed road to win B.C. AAAA title

LANGLEY — It’s special to arrive before your time, yet as the Belmont Bulldogs can tell you definitively, it’s a status which immediately demands an encore performance. And in sport, just as in life, you reap what you sow.

Reigning AAAA MVP Savannah Purdy assures all that the Belmont Bulldogs' road to the 2016 B.C. title was hardly an overnight success story. (Paul Yates/Vancouver Sports Pictures)
Feature High School Girls Volleyball

Bravo, Belmont! Instead of becoming Bad News Bulldogs, Victoria’s quirky defending BC champs celebrate each other

LANGLEY — Ask Savannah Purdy to describe the worst volleyball team in the entire history of her sport, and with a lighthearted laugh, she would likely pick the team she was a part of during her Grade 6 season at Victoria’s Spencer Middle School. “I remember in the very first tournament, the first game we played, […]

Langley Christian's Brodie Hofer and Kayla Oxland of Handsworth share their stories of inspiration on the road to the LEC. (Paul Yates, Blair Shier photos)
Feature High School Boys Volleyball High School Girls Volleyball

Brodie and Kayla: Two of our brightest high school volleyball stars on inspiration along the road to the Big Kahuna B.C. tourney

LANGLEY — Its shared history is not exactly an open archive, yet the organizers of the 2017 Big Kahuna B.C. High School Volleyball Championships know there will be a special vibe when the events kicks off a four-day run Nov. 29 at the Langley Events Centre.

Simon Fraser middle blocker Tessa May (21) has persevered through injury to become a heart-and-soul force with the Clan. (Varsity Letters photo by Howard Tsumura)
Feature University Women's Volleyball

Tessa’s Terms: Simon Fraser’s gutsy middle blocker on living a true May Day

BURNABY — Tessa May has struck a treaty with her aching shins, a peace accord of sorts that says she’ll do the hundreds of hours of physiotherapy as long as she gets to pull on her No. 21 game-day jersey with the Simon Fraser Clan volleyball team.