Cambrian College volleyball coach Dale Beausoleil was excited to unveil his 2023-2024 team rosters.
Turns out he had good reason to be.
Hosting a 12-team OCAA tournament (six men's; 6 women's) in Sudbury last weekend, the Cambrian Golden Shield crew swept both sides of the draw, with both championship finals going to distance.
With nine of his 13 rostered women in their first season of post-secondary competition, Beausoleil was most likely more pleasantly surprised by the local squad that split their round robin games before upsetting the top seed on the opposite side and finally earning a measure of revenge against the George Brown Huskies in the gold medal affair.
The Cambrian women stopped the Canadore Panthers 26-24, 25-22 on Saturday before falling in three sets to George Brown (25-17, 21-25, 13-15). Come Sunday afternoon, the Shield ousted the Centennial Colts in two straight (25-21, 25-23) but then went the distance before taming the Huskies, 25-22, 17-25, 15-10.
The Cambrian women are not only a very young outfit, they're also highly Sudbury-centric, with nine locals on the roster, including six that are in first year alone.
Teammates with the Horizon Aigles one year ago, Kennedy Bellefeuille and Allison Nordquist bring very interesting athletic backgrounds to the mix as they jump into a team that is likely to require them to take to the court a fair bit in their introductory season of college ball.
"I played club basketball (Sudbury Jam), no Chill (Northern Chill Volleyball Club)," said Bellefeuille, a 5'8" middle who features both the size and tenacity to make her presence felt in either of the two court sports.
"I am a super determined person," added the 17 year-old Massage Therapy student. "My timing on my blocking (at this level) - I know I am behind on that; but I want to be good, I want to stay with everybody on the floor."
"My hits are pretty good. I've worked with Dale during the summer."
Though she might not have the pre-requisite club experience that many of her OCAA opponents might enjoy, Bellefeuille did benefit from suiting up with a very committed high-school program at Horizon, one which consistently raised the standard of play during her time at the Valley school.
"At Horizon, we played a really fast tempo and I think that's helped me here," noted the newcomer to Cambrian. "At Horizon, it was always go, go, go - and here, it's always go, go, go. I am short for a middle and the opponents I am up against are ginormous."
Because I am short, I have to be fast, so that helps me out a lot."
Alison Nordquist was already an accomplished swimmer with the Sudbury Laurentian Swim Club (older sister Hannah is part of the Guelph Gryphons varsity team) when she began to show signs of developing a secondary athletic passion.
Truth be told, volleyball appeals to her strategic mindset, with little surprise that Nordquist would migrate her way, over time, from a right-side hitter to setter.
"I very much enjoy looking around, trying to figure out where to put the ball, who is on their game," said the 18 year-old who will be studying Electrical Engineering at Cambrian. "I try and notice what the defence is doing and go for that."
For the first time in five years, the Shield women will not have the ultra-stabilizing competitor that is Isabelle Rivest on the floor, with Nordquist more than slightly aware of the legacy the Sturgeon Falls three-time Female Athlete of the Year left at the New Sudbury campus.
"I came in with huge, huge shoes to fill; I am very much aware of that," said Nordquist. "But Dale is a great coach. He reminds me that he knows what I can do. He's very re-assuring - and the girls on the team are too."
The Cambrian men, who took two of three from both Canadore (19-25, 25-16, 15-10) and George Brown (25-16, 24-26, 15-13) before sweeping Centennial in the semis (25-18, 25-21) and taking down the Huskies for a second time (19-25, 25-23, 17-15) are slightly less youthful than their female counterparts, with basically half of their roster having graduated from high-school last June.
And while veterans Kurtis Brisebois, Sven Trodel and Jason Diotte (and others) will be leaned upon heavily this winter, some rookies, including Toronto native Conor Dorsey, will be expected to step up.
An extremely versatile athlete who starred with the Leaside Volleyball Club and also enjoyed success on the summer beach circuit, Dorsey can fill many a hole for Beausoleil during what can be a very long season.
"I really like defensive lib (libero), that's a fun one for me," noted the 6'1" graduate of Northern Secondary School. "But during the summer, I really enjoy playing beach, so I still want to it - so I think it will be left-side for me."
It's not like the bouncing around of positions has hurt the development of the Electrical Engineering major in any way. "I think it helps me read the game a lot, just being able to make an educated guess of where peple are going to be on the court."
"It all helps me."
Attending the Volleyball Canada Showcase last spring, Dorsey reached out to a number of schools, including Cambrian, though he candidly admits being somewhat naive to the specifics of the northern mining city in which the college resides.
"I came up here for a visit in May," he explained. "Other than that, I had never really heard of Sudbury before - but I'm excited. I enjoy the outdoors. I think I will be okay."
Which kind of summarizes the same way that Dale Beausoleil is feeling about his teams this Thanksgiving weekend.
Following are the remaining athletes on both the women's and men's teams at Cambrian:
Golden Shield volleyball - women: Jersey Masson, Maisie Craig, Brielle Chicoine, Mackenzie Selk, Lily Sleigh, Meili Betty, Ashley Ruddick, Hannah Crane, Danika Chenier, Mia Craig, Taylor Vaillant; assistant coaches - Jonathan Hoadley, Giuliana ParisottoGolden Shield volleyball - men: Ryken Arnold, Jackson Hanson, Miguel Levac, Kyle Perreault, David Pigozzo, Jonas Obrigewitsch, Dylan Terris, Liam Hansen, Ethan Noche, Nathan Scully, Noah Squires; assistant coaches - Chris Chedore, Stephen Brown
