The Thunders women’s volleyball team fell from grace this year after six consecutive years as East Division champions.
Handed a team compiled solely of rookie players, with the exception of one veteran, coach Everton Senior used this year as a learning experience.

Senior admits the difficulty of coaching a rookie team is never knowing what to except.
“Your expectations might not meet their output, or sometimes it will exceed it,” he said. “You know what you think they can achieve but then you’ve never really seen them play together.”

The Thunder finished eigth place in the conference with an 8–12 record.

“We took a step back this year. You have to take a step back to take two steps forward,” said Senior, making it clear that next year he expected to move up in the standings.

“That’s where Algonquin is used to being, at the top.”

The greatest downfall of the team for Senior was the Christmas break when the girls started to play their best games right before the month-long vacation.

“It’s a matter of getting a lot of repetition in, that’s what they need at this point,” he said after seeing the loss of momentum over the break.

Christine Charlemange, Thunders middle, used the ups and downs of the season to drive her ambition of becoming a better athlete over the summer. She won OCAA East rookie of the year and made the East region second team all star team this season.

Taking in their season with a win-some-lose-some attitude, they’re biggest concern is how they can improve for next season.
“Our team needs to work on communication, running a faster and more aggressive offense and closing the game when we get the chance,” said Jori Armishaw, Thunder’s left side.

Emily Graham, the Thunder’s rookie captain, saw their improvements as being mostly mental.
“We have all the ingredients to make a delicious cake; we just need to figure out the measurements.”
The women may not have walked away with the East Division champion title this season but have laid down the foundation for next year.

They’ve grown from a group of women playing volleyball on the same team to make that transition of being each other’s “back bone” on and off the court. Their personalities and characteristics have been arranged by Senior in way to avoid conflict and create a tight, synchronized unit.

 “I know what frustrates them, what motivates them and what their favourite sets are,” said Graham.

Next season, all the girls are eligible to try out for the team and remain hopeful. The stakes will be set higher for women to climb the standings in the upcoming year.