From Feb. 21 to 23, the St. Thomas University men’s and women’s volleyball teams competed in the Atlantic Collegiate Athletic Association (ACAA) playoffs in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.
The men’s Tommies made it to the finals, losing three sets to one against Université Sainte-Anne. Meanwhile, the women’s team lost the semi-final in three sets against the University of New Brunswick Saint John.
“It obviously didn’t go the way we wanted it to, but coming in, we were confident and not expecting to win but had a good idea of what we definitely could [do],” said third-year middle Mason Brewster.
Both teams entered the playoffs with nine-game winning streaks. This was especially significant for the women’s team, as they had begun the year in eighth place in the conference.
“We forgot about everything that happened in the season before and just kind of played,” said third-year outside hitter Kathleen Boyle. “I think going into playoffs and putting that aside and just playing open-minded helped.”
Boyle said that a big strength the women’s Tommies have is that “they don’t dwell on negative things … to be able to just move on and think [about the] next game kind of thing.”
Women’s Head Coach Kim Colpitts said that it’s always discouraging to lose in the post-season, but their “philosophy” and goal of taking care of their side defensively was met.
This was her first year with the Tommies after working as an assistant coach at UNB Reds.
“We won our quarterfinal game, which was a great battle against a very, very worthy adversary,” she said. “I could not have asked the athletes and the team to do anything more.”
Boyle agrees with her coach, explaining how everyone wants to win, but that they are proud of their results considering where they started the season.
“We fought to try to stay in it, but it just wasn’t in it for us that day,” she said.
Second-year libero Alessandra Hernandez is also satisfied with the team’s performance. She says that one of their strengths this post-season was how they executed plays.
“We were stronger and better than we were last year or at the beginning of the year,” she said.
According to Hernandez and Boyle, the coaches would simulate a roaring crowd by playing loud music and banging on drums while practicing for the playoffs.
“This is really funny because the playoffs are very loud, [with] drums and everything,” said Hernandez.
Along with going far with her teammates, Boyle was awarded the ACAA Women’s Volleyball Player of the Year. She said she wasn’t expecting to win the honour.
“I put in the work so that maybe it could be, like, an opportunity to get it,” she said. “But when I was sitting there and they called my name, I was actually shocked.”
Likewise, Colpitts was awarded Coach of the Year. She fully credits her players for the honour.
“As a coach, you can only accomplish what your athletes are willing to do and work towards and sacrifice … they worked very hard this year and I’m very proud of them,” she said.
