Women's Volleyball Making A Swift Run At A Western Canadian Championship
It has been four seasons since Women's Volleyball has won any significant league or tournament championship, but this weekend's Western Canadian Tournament in Swift Current may change all that. Fresh off a straight sets win over the Red River Rebels on Tuesday night, CMU is en route to Great Plains College for a tournament that has provided the program with two previous banners, 2010 in Saskatoon and 2011 in Olds, Alberta.
"The Western Canadians seeks to declare a combined college championship of the three Canadian prairie provinces," explains Athletic Director Russell Willms. In past seasons, such teams at King's and Ambrose University Colleges as well as Olds College, all of Alberta, (all programs now belonging to the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference) have participated in the competition. Their transition to ACAC has left the tournament only open to the more flexible schedules of the Prairie Athletic Conference (Saskatchewan) and the Manitoba Colleges Athletic Conference.
The tournament will be a meaningful one for fourth-year player Danielle Klassen (pictured, left). The 5'8 right side from Calgary began her university volleyball career immediately following CMU's last championship win and it is important to her to see her team gain even more confidence from a well-played tournament this weekend;
"This Western Canadians is bitter sweet for me because this will be my final one", said Klassen, who was Tuesday night's Player of the Game selection, "We really have a strong group of players this year, an excellent coach and our performance through the first half of the season has shown it. I am looking forward to carrying our first half success into Saskatchewan."
The Blazers begin round-robin play on Friday with matches against the Prairie Pilots (Three Hills, AB) and former Western Champions, Kelsey Amaruks (Saskatoon, SK). Saturday has CMU challenging the Millar Edge (Pambrun, SK) and host, Great Plains Sundogs before advancing to elimination rounds and Saturday evening's Championship Match.
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