Giving themselves a chance to compete for an OCAA Championship was the goal for Mohawk Mountaineers women's volleyball, and they achieved that by competing in the gold medal match for the first time in 42 years. Mohawk would go on to capture a silver medal.
The Mountaineers success came from a roster that had a solid balance of veteran and young athletes.
"I think we were spoiled in that we had a solid presence of veterans return with a really good influx of young athletes," said head coach Matthew Schnarr. "The growth I liked the most was that our vets were great leaders, mentors and role models, which made it a comfortable space for our young athletes to rise to the occasion in terms of our goal of giving ourselves an opportunity to win a provincial championship."
Mohawk's 2021/22 season concluded with an 8-1 record and for the most part of the year they ranked sixth in the CCAA.
In the playoffs, the Mountaineers advanced through the first two rounds with ease defeating the Fanshawe Falcons and Algonquin Wolves in straight sets. In the opening match of the OCAA Final Four, Mohawk showed its dominance again in a four set win over the Durham Lords.
The Gold Medal match versus the Humber Hawks wasn't the performance the Mountaineers were hoping for, losing 3-1.
Mohawk's strong year was rewarded with six OCAA Second-Team All-Stars and two athletes named to the All-Rookie Team.
Schnarr spoke highly of veterans Amanda Kuiper (Woodstock, ON), Kaelyn Emslie (St. Catharines, ON), Julia Watson (Burlington, ON) and Grace Mazur (Hamilton, ON), but narrowed in on the play of the younger athletes such as Rachel Vanderwal (Hamilton, ON).
"I'm going to speak to her massive improvements from the beginning of the year to the end and really being a huge leader on the defensive side through blocking," Schnarr said. "Her progression the last four weeks were really instrumental."
Kuiper led the OCAA with 9.92 assists per set and was third in total assists with 258, while Emslie led the conference with 0.93 aces per set and took charge offensively for the team with 63 kills and 89 points. Vanderwal was the team leader in blocks with 14.
The Mountaineers also received strong play on the left side from Sofia Spoljar (Hamilton, ON) and Lexie Zicari (Burlington, ON), and in the middle from Irene Jaramillo Restrepo (Manizales, Colombia).
"Her influx of maturity and energy really gave us another option and lineup change that really allowed us to succeed," Schnarr said of Restrepo.
The defensive play from libero Anika Gatto (Vancouver, BC) was also a major spotlight, as she led the team with 66 digs.
"She gave us a chance to win a lot of rallies," the veteran coach said.
As a team Mohawk led the OCAA with 339 kills and an efficiency rate of 29.4 per cent. They were also second with 103 aces.
Heading into the offseason Schnarr said the team should be proud of their achievements, but continue to stay hungry for what's to come.
"We're losing some important athletes, but we have some great athletes that will need to take on some more responsibility in the performance area of our game," he said. "The offseason focus would be on some development of leadership and some ownership in the weight room; preparing ourselves to compete in the top five again."
Looking ahead to the 2022/23 season, Schnarr said the roster will look different but the goal is to create a system that will maximize the strengths of the athletes on the team.
