It wasn’t the best of seasons and it wasn’t the worst of seasons, but if you put the time and effort in, individual excellence is rewarded.
Cochranite and University of Calgary Dinos woman’s volleyball player Beth Vinnell, was recently honoured by Canada West with a spot on the CIS conference’s second all-star team for the 2015/16 season.
“It feels awesome,” Vinnell said. “After not having the best season, it was great to be recognized like that. I’m really grateful and thankful for the honour.”
The kinesiology and education major is in her second year with the Dinos playing as a middle, and was the team’s offensive leader, picking up a team-high 200 kills – averaging nearly 2.5 a set – and a sensational .304 hitting average (the fifth-best in Canada West).
She was involved with 74 for blocks for Dinos, and her 13 solo blocks places her fifth in the conference in that category.
“I got a lot more playing time this year, so obviously that helped to give me better numbers,” she said.
“Our team did a really good job overall this year. Erika Myhre, our setter, did an awesome job at finding me and feeding me a lot of balls when I had an opportunity. My team put in a lot of work, and that in turn helped me to be successful.”
However, this season wasn’t all wine and roses for Vinnell or her team. She struggled throughout the year with nagging injuries and her team failed to make the playoffs, picking up a 14-20 record overall (10-14 in the conference), a far cry from last season’s 22-17.
“I would have preferred making the playoffs than receiving this award,” she revealed. “I wasn’t expecting to make the all-star team so it’s a nice surprise, but being on a team, the success of the team is what comes first.”
However, Vinnell is putting this campaign behind her and looks to come back with a bang in her third-year.
“Next year, I need to work on getting myself healthy,” she said.
“I’m looking to focus on off-court training, and getting stronger so I can make it through a whole season.
“As a team we need to work together on playing with confidence. If we can improve our mental game I think we’ll be a lot more successful next season. We’re very talented and skillful, but when you get to this level you can’t rely on those aspects alone. A lot comes down to mental strength and we have to learn to use that to our advantage if we want to reach our potential.”
