Women’s Volleyball wins first Provincial title since 1995
It took 23 years for the women's volleyball program to win another provincial title, finally breaking through on Saturday night. The number one ranked team in the nation beat VIU in the final in three straight sets to secure the victory.
The women earned a bye to the semi-finals thanks to their ranking, which matched them up with the fourth ranked Capilano Blues on Friday evening. They won in four sets against the Blues, highlighted by an outstanding performance from Vania Oliviera who had 21 kills in the semi-final match.
Oliviera led the Royals offense with another stellar performance in the final, collecting 12 kills in the gold medal match. Caet McCorkell had 10 kills, while Vicki Schley chipped in nine. Libero Claudia Corneil had 18 digs for the Royals, while setter Jane Kepler contributed an impressive 38 assists in the win. Cait McCorkell was named the player of the match for Douglas.
Oliviera was named the Tournament MVP, collecting a total of 33 kills between the semi-finals and gold medal match. Jane Kepler and Vicki Schley were also recognized for their performance over the weekend and earned Tournament All-Star awards.
Check out the post match interview with Coach Ross ➡️https://soundcloud.com/user-627812675/pacwest-gold-medal-match-recap
The Royals also racked up several conference awards that were announced late last week. Brazil native Vania Oliviera, who had an absolutely unreal season, was named the Women's Player of the Year in the PacWest and a 1st team all-star. First-year player Caet McCorkell, who was second in the PacWest with an average of 3.38 kills per set this season, was named Rookie of the Year and an All-Rookie team selection.
Other notables for the Royals include Jane Kepler being named a 1st Team All-Star and Claudia Corneil was named a 2nd Team All-Star.
The Royals will continue their quest for a National title when they head to Grand Prairie College in Alberta for the Nationals which take place from March 7-10th. VIU will also join Douglas as the second team from the PacWest to advance to the CCAA Nationals.
