Capping off a phenomenal rookie season at Vancouver Island University, Duncan Christian School grad Danielle Groenendijk was named a first-team all-star last weekend as the VIU Mariners won the national collegiate women’s volleyball championship.
Groenendijk served up a team-high four aces in the final series on Saturday night as the Mariners knocked off their provincial rivals, the Douglas College Royals 25-19, 25-20, 23-25, 25-16 in Grande Prairie, Alta., to claim the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association title.
“The feeling I had when we scored the final point in the gold medal game was priceless,” Groenendijk wrote in an email to the Citizen on Monday. “We did it! We won Nationals! The best part was being able to celebrate with my whole team! Honestly, it’s hard to put to words the feeling I had when we won.”
After winning the CCAA title in 2016 and placing third at nationals last year, the Mariners had their sights set on the national title since they first started training together late last summer, she noted.
“Winning nationals is something our team has been planning for since the end of August, and it feels amazing that all our hard work paid off,” Groenendijk said. “Going into nationals, I didn’t know what to expect, but I was excited to play and wanted to finish off the season at a high note. Our team’s mindset was to focus only on one game at a time and then when one was done, we could think about the next. Every game we came out to play and left it all on the court.”
The Mariners had lost three out of four matches to the Royals in the regular season and also fell to Douglas in the PacWest provincial championships at the end of February.
The Mariners were dominant the first two days of the tournament, starting with a 25-16, 25-12, 25-7 whitewash of the Boomerang d’André-Laurendeau in Thursday’s opener and then continuing with another straight-sets victory over the Lakeland Rustlers in the semis, 25-15, 25-15, 25-17.
“It was a pretty proud moment for me as a coach,” VIU head coach Shane Hyde said. “This was my fourth national championship, but this was one of the most special ones for me because I really do think that this team was the complete package from the start of the year. And all the ups and downs we’ve had maybe played into the success we had at the end.”
VIU’s Mikayla Wagner was named tournament MVP, and Groenendijk and Chantal Cumming were picked as first-team all-stars.
“I was honoured,” Groenendijk said. “Kinda crazy to think about because I am only a first-year, but it feels good that my hard work and dedication paid off. I just played for my team and did everything I could on the court and they did the same. I am truly thankful for my teammates and coaches and I’m sad the season is over, but I couldn’t have asked for it to end any other way.”
With files from Black Press