LANGLEY – Trinity Western University Spartans women’s volleyball coach Ryan Hofer has announced that outside hitter Chelsea Tancon of Comox is part of his 2012 recruiting class.
Sophie Carpentier (Ottawa) and Kristen Moncks (Standard, Alta.) have also committed to the Spartans. “These three are passionate about this game, have demonstrated a great work ethic and are committed to achieving something great here,” Hofer said in a June 21 press release.
“This is a solid recruiting class and I know all three of them will fit perfectly into the team and into what we are trying to accomplish here at Trinity Western. I’m excited to watch as they each develop into fantastic CIS players.”
The 6-foot Tancon, who graduates from Georges P. Vanier Secondary this month, will join the Spartans after finishing a high school career in which she was considered one of the best volleyball players in the province. On a list compiled by B.C.-based university coaches, Tancon was ranked fifth in the Province newspaper’s Senior Girls Super 15 Class of 2012.
“She is one of the more determined and committed athletes I have seen at the high school level,” Hofer said. “She has an amazing work ethic and she’s very coachable. She’s ready to learn and she’s ready to grow. She’s a physically strong athlete who has a great jump and she’s a solid blocker and attacker. She’s developing into an athlete who will be a key contributor on our team for years to come.”
In the fall of 2011, when Tancon was in Grade 12, she helped the Towhees capture the Vancouver Island AAAA championship and, in the process, was named tournament MVP. Her team followed that up with a 16th place finish at the 2011 provincials.
"Chelsea is one of those rare athletes a coach gets every decade or so that really dedicates herself to the game, not only physically and emotionally, but intellectually as well," said Vanier girls volleyball coach Dave Neill.
"Ever since I first me her she always wanted to learn more about the game. Chelsea's passion for the game of volleyball has paid off for her," Neill said.
In the summer of 2011, Tancon played for Team BC U17 at the Western Canada Summer Games where she helped her team to a gold medal. In 2010 she played for Team BC at the U16 Western Elites helping that team to a fifth place finish.
This summer, for the third in a row, Tancon will play for Team BC, this time representing her province at the National Team Challenge Cup July 18-22.
Playing for her club side, North Island Crush, Tancon led a team of just eight players to a ninth place finish at the most recent provincial championship.
Off the volleyball court, Tancon played for her school’s basketball, soccer and rugby teams. She also competed at the 2008 B.C. Winter Games in cross-country skiing and was part of a soccer team that travelled to the Netherlands to compete in the 2008 Youth Friendship Games Holland, finishing third.
For all of her sporting accomplishments, Tancon was named her school’s Female Senior Athlete of the Year in both Grade 11 and Grade 12.
Away from the sporting realm, Tancon has also been prolific in the classroom as she has been on the Principal’s Honour Roll, an achievement that requires a 4.0 GPA, ever since Grade 10.
“Trinity Western is everything I was looking for in a university, plus so much more,” said Tancon, who plans to study kinesiology. “The women’s volleyball program at Trinity Western is not only a top CIS program with a voracious hunger to win that first national championship, but it’s also a community of kind and wonderful people.”
Spartans Volleyball
The Trinity Western women’s volleyball team qualified for the CIS national championship in 2011-12 for the third time in the last four years. After capturing the Canada West bronze medal, the Spartans went into the national championship ranked No. 6 in the tournament. After falling to Montreal in the quarter-final, the team rallied to win its last two games and finish fifth.
The team finished the Canada West regular season with a 13-7 record and, at one point in the year, were ranked as high as No. 2 in the CIS Top 10.
Trinity Western beat Calgary on home court in the first round of the playoffs to qualify for the Canada West Final Four. At the Final Four, they lost to UBC in the semifinal before beating Winnipeg in the bronze medal match.
The Spartans have qualified for the national championship five times in their 13-year history of playing at the CIS level. They earned a bronze medal in 2011, a fourth place finish in 2007 and fifth place finishes in 2006, 2009 and 2012.
– TWU Spartans