A historic year for the Mohawk Mountaineers women's volleyball team concluded with a silver medal after a tough 3-0 (16-25, 19-25, 27-29) loss to the Humber Hawks in the OCAA Championships.
Mohawk had a couple set point opportunities in the third to extend the match, but Humber found ways to answer.
It was the first time in 42 years the Mountaineers had competed in the OCAA Championship match.
"I know it hurts now, but it'll be something we celebrate later," head coach Matthew Schnarr said.
The veteran coach was extremely proud of his team.
"They've been thrown the gauntlet over the last two years with COVID and life in general," Schnarr said. "Their resilience this year of not knowing if we're going to have season or not, and just the way they showed up and committed to each other everyday is something that you just can't teach young people."
"They did everything I asked and more, and they certainly deserve the opportunity they got today and I can't be more proud of the squad that I have."
Anika Gatto (Vancouver, BC) stepped up defensively as she has all season with 10 digs in the match. Right side hitter Julia Watson (Burlington, ON) provided a team-high eight kills, nine digs and five blocks.
Schnarr highlighted his graduating athletes that include Amanda Kuiper (Woodstock, ON), Kaelyn Emslie (St. Catharines, ON), Grace Mazur (Hamilton, ON) and Watson.
"When you have a group of kids that are as special as the ones that are graduating just makes it easy," Schnarr said. "Just proud of their resilience and their commitment to growth and allowing me to be tough on them and challenging them daily."
Kuiper ends a five-year playing career at Mohawk and will go down as one of the greatest to ever wear a Mountaineer jersey.
"When I took over the program in my first year, I didn't really know who I had or what I was stepping into," Schnarr said. "The minute I saw Amanda I knew there was a good athlete in there, but what I didn't know was there was someone that was going to put this program on the map and she committed everyday."
Kuiper's accolades include having played the second most matches (77) and sets (270) in program history, fifth in total points with 523, first in total assists with 1,858, first in assist per set with 6.88, first with 213 aces, first with 0.79 aces per set and fourth with 492 digs. Her total aces also placed her second all-time in the OCAA.
"We challenged each other everyday," Schnarr said. "I have so much respect for her as an athlete, student, teammate and leader that you're never going to replace an athlete like that. I hope she knows that and understands that, and she's left a huge mark and a huge hole on our program."
"She's a friend for life now and there's nothing you can change on that one."
Emslie's three seasons with the Mountaineers also placed her high up on many statistical categories. She finished ninth in program history with 339 kills, eighth with 2.46 kills per set, 16th with 439 total points, eighth in points per set with 3.18, fourth with 89 total aces, second in aces per set with 0.64, ninth in total digs with 372 and sixth in digs per set with 2.7.
The Mountaineers finished the regular season with an 8-1 record en route to their silver medal.
