Mohawk’s women’s volleyball season came to an end Feb. 15 when Fanshawe visited the Fennell Gymnasium for the Mountaineers last regular season game.

The Mountaineers didn’t finish with the record they were looking for (3-15), and missed out on this year’s playoffs – but that didn’t stop the remaining women from showing up to support their school and each other.

Throughout this season several women that appeared on the roster have left the team for different reasons. Some women had scheduling conflicts arise while others let a relationship filled with tension with first-year coach Andy Nicholson decide their fate and left on their accord.

“I think it was a lot more difficult than I anticipated it was going to be,” said Nicholson. “I think my expectations of this level of volleyball was probably higher than it turned out to be. So, I really had to make a lot of adjustments to the way I was coaching and, unfortunately, I think that negatively affected the kids.”

One of the few veteran players left on the team from last year was Kristin VanHartingsveldt, who said “the team” was what kept her motivated to keep working hard throughout the disappointing season.

“There was frustration with the coach, and yeah that brought us down, but we just—we went out there and played for ourselves was what it was like,” she said.

Somewhere along the way the team realized a contending season was not in their future and decided to just have fun and make the most of their remaining games. Ironically, that is when the team started playing some of their best volleyball.

“We talked about pride,” said Nicholson. “The kids, for the most part, are prideful girls and wanted to, you know, wanted to represent Mohawk well and we played the best three teams in the division our last three games so that’s pretty tough and they played well. Funny enough, we probably played three of our best matches against the three best teams.”

One of those top-ranked teams was their final matchup of the season, Fanshawe. After dropping the first two sets (25-19 and 25-12), the women proved they came to compete and took the third set (25-23) against the Ontario Colleges’ Athletic Association West Division’s second place finishing Falcons. The women then fell just short of forcing a fifth set, losing the fourth set (25-23) and the match.

“I think the energy was good on the court,” said Mohawk’s right-side, Liz Pollock. “Everyone was communicating and stuff like that so we had a good game.”

Pollock didn’t get much playing time throughout the season but may have made her coach regret not putting on the floor more often. The first-year Hamilton native was second on her team in total offence with nine points, trailing only VanHartinsveldt who led with 10. Pollock also tied Mackenzie Lawrence for the team best seven kills.

Looking forward to next year, there should be a major turn-around in players. Nicholson said he has several highly touted recruits but is wary of who his starting setter will be.

One of this year’s setters was Megan Bros, a first-year player in the nursing program, who says she is undecided about returning to the team next year because of her rigorous study schedule. Bros said she enjoyed her first year as a varsity athlete.

“It was fun,” she said. “It was different for sure from high school. I mean, the level at first, it’s a big change because I mean I remember practicing with them in the summer and I was like ‘oh no.’ It felt like a bigger change but once you get playing, you get used it. It was a lot of fun.”

Bros said the biggest change for her was the speed of the game.

Speaking of change, starting next season, Nicholson said one thing he would like to change from his learning experience of this year is to “get in the heads” of his athletes and find out who they are as a group.