Despite the Camosun Chargers losing the gold medal match of the national Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) women’s volleyball championship—held between Wednesday, March 8 and Saturday, March 11 at Interurban’s Pacific Institute for Sport Excellence—to the Lakeland Rustlers, Chargers women’s volleyball coach Chris Dahl is in good spirits, because it was the best national women’s volleyball CCAA finish in the history of the college. Dahl says he couldn’t have asked for a better experience for Camosun fans and faculty, and, of course, the athletes.
“You reflect upon the matches leading up to that championship final,” he says, “and you can’t help but be thankful for the performances that our athletes put in and the support that the crowd provided us along the way to make it a truly unique and memorable experience.”
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Camosun Charger Michelle Zygmunt was awarded most valuable player in the tournament, and Katie Fetting was first team all-star. Zygmunt says that although she’s proud of being MVP, she is even more thrilled with the team on a whole.
“Silver is incredible,” says Zygmunt. “It really is. For our team, that’s such a big accomplishment. For the school, as well. We made history with the best finish for the women’s team so far, so I’m proud of my individual accomplishment, but I’m so much more proud of the team accomplishment.”
Fetting says that any moment where hard work pays off, especially in a way that helps the team on the whole, is amazing.
“I’m still in awe that we made it to the national final,” says Fetting. “No matter the result, we were all just extremely happy to make it that far. It was incredible to play in the national final in front of our home crowd. It’s nice for hard work to pay off. I’ve tried to do my best during the weekend and I worked my butt off to try and help the team in any way I could.”
Dahl says the excitement in PISE during the match was unparalleled, and says the game was very close to going to a fifth set.
“I don’t know how the fifth would have turned out,” he says. “I always tell our athletes or any coaches that I work with that a fifth set is like a coin flip. There’s so much that can happen in a short period of time.”
Dahl says playing in front of a home crowd for a “nail-biter of a fourth” was a good way to end the tournament, and he’s proud of his players, but there’s always room to grow.
“You need challenge with programs at schools like Camosun, where the majority of the students that we’ve encountered over the years are University Transfer, which means that you’re more often than not constantly in a building and growing phase,” says Dahl.
Dahl says PISE was packed full of passionate fans showing their support, for all the various teams that were playing over the weekend.
“Not just us,” he says, “middle school teams, elementary school kids. Our youth club volleyball team from across the lower mainland and the island were in attendance. The reach is going to far exceed the walls of Camosun College.”
Congrats Chargers! You do your school proud!