Tommies volleyball teams back with bigger expectations

Tommies left side Kathleen Bolye preparing to spike the ball. (Credit: STU Athletics)

Both the St. Thomas University (STU) men’s and women’s volleyball teams are back after successful seasons last year.

The men’s Tommies came second in last year’s Atlantic Collegiate Athletic Association (ACAA) championship, while the women’s made it to the semi-final. The two teams hope to take the next step this year and bring home the title.

Kim Colpitts, head coach of the women’s team, is beginning her second season and she is happy with how the team performed last year. 

Colpitts also won the ACAA Women’s Volleyball Coach of the Year in her first year.

“It was my first year … but I thought in our first term, it took us a little while to kind of just get on the same page and understand [each other] from both sides, on what we wanted as a group, collectively,” she said.  “And then, second term, we executed the plan that we put in place together and I thought our execution of that plan was very good.”

Fourth-year left side Kathleen Boyle believes that last year was great for the team. Like Colpitts, she was honoured at the ACAA awards with Women’s Volleyball Player of the Year at the end of the season.

As the longest-tenured player on the team, Boyle has had multiple conversations with Colpitts about being the leader of the group.

“It's stuff like making sure that people are comfortable coming to talk to me if they have any problems, or if they have questions and just being that supportive person out on the court, keeping us in check,” said Boyle.

Boyle has a good feeling about the season, due to the versatility of the players. She thinks one of their strengths is that every member deserves to be there.

This year’s edition of the team includes eight returning players from last year’s roster. For a team of 18, that means more than half the group are new players.

Colpitts said that the returning players have adapted well to the changes.

“I think the players that we have returning, they know that there's a responsibility kind of on them to lead and to basically execute, to perform. And so that puts some pressure on them, which they're prepared for,” she said.

Likewise, the new athletes joining the team are coming in with both “great attitudes and strong work ethics.”

“It's always hard to lose athletes without question, because you’re losing leadership and experience. We definitely miss the players that aren't returning. Having said that, I think we're well-positioned with those that are returning, plus our new athletes and the talent and the mindset that they're coming in with,” she said.

Colpitts said that the group’s biggest strength may be the team culture and understanding. She said that both are key to competing and achieving success at this level.

The strong leadership from veteran players will help guide the ten new additions to the team. She thinks the mix of experience and new energy will be helpful for their upcoming games.

“That's one of the things that I'm really proud of … they're putting the time in, they're definitely putting the work in, in our practice gym, in the weight room, they are really putting in the effort,” she said.

Colpitts said that her goals for this season were developing each athlete to their full potential and focusing on building a cohesive defence.

“It's a long season. So the more we can develop all our athletes and have everybody in a position that they can provide meaningful contributions throughout the season, regardless of their role, I think is going to be really important for us,” she said.

Mason Brewster, a fourth-year student and middle player for the men’s volleyball team, said he was satisfied with where they finished last year. 

Brewster believes they had a very strong team that just fell short in the end.

“We played very well ... and then we just kind of all collectively started going down,” he said. “It was tough, because we needed to pick each other back up and I feel like we didn't do that, but that's what we hope to do this year.”

Like Boyle, Brewster fills a leadership role on his team. This means helping members with things on and off the court, whether volleyball-related or not.

Brewster said that the group has both strong defence and offence. Their passing and blocking have been good during the preseason, which will help them in the long run.

“Our main goal is the championship, going to Nationals. That's what we're definitely focused on. We've built that culture, that winning culture … every time we're on the volleyball court, we're gonna give it our all and we want to win,” he said.