Zafir Nagji, Sports Editor |

With the soccer season coming to a close and winter fast approaching, Mount Royal University’s indoor sports teams are preparing to start their conquest for the upcoming 2024/25 season. First to the hardwood are the volleyball squads, and with MRU being selected to host the 2027 U SPORTS men’s volleyball and 2028 U SPORTS women’s volleyball championships, expectations and excitement for both teams are extremely high.

After ranking second in the conference and qualifying for the Canada West playoffs but losing in the first round last season, the men’s volleyball team waved goodbye to some of the best players to ever don a Cougars jersey. That being said, their departure has paved the way for new players to take the reins and keep the team in championship contention conversations. With six freshmen on the roster, the Cougars are young, hungry, and primed for a season of learning and winning on the volleyball court.

The women’s volleyball roster may look mostly similar to last year, only featuring four first-year players, but is under new leadership. As the former head coach for the Briercrest College women’s volleyball team and TFOC Volleyball Club pro, the Cougars’ new head coach has been busy in the offseason and preseason implementing new practices that are sure to turn this team into 2024/25 playoff contender. 

Men’s Volleyball

Cougars men’s volleyball team fans will be surprised to see a slew of new faces on the roster. After four years of being led by a series of all-time collegiate greats, the team waved goodbye to Norweigian starting setter Samson Olsen and a series of their taller frontline players, like Luis Lange, Max Haronga, and Chris Byam. 

In their stead, Jovan Stepanovic has stepped up as leader of this team, helping young players on the rise develop into deadly threats. However, being the veteran on a team is no easy role to fulfill, as it requires an unselfish, team-first mindset on and off the court. 

“I’m honoured to be one of the veterans, because since I started playing, I was always the youngest,” Stepanovic said. “From the leading standpoint, it’s really cool because I get to give them the little tips and shortcuts, not just on the court. It’s off the court, too.”

Second-year middle, Cody Hudson, plays right next to Stepanovic and has been a receptive listener to the vet’s advice, which has helped him adjust to being a starter for the first time in his USPORTS career.

“He’s the biggest leader I’ve ever played with,” Hudson said about Stepanovic.

“He’s always looking after me. Even when he’s going through his own things, he’s always looking out for the team. He’ll always pick us all up when we’re down. And he’s just a great player to have by my side, especially on the court.”

Leading the team from the bench is Shawn Sky, who has coached the men’s volleyball team since 2004, eight years before the Cougars joined U SPORTS. Sky is known for his straight face and crossed arms, keeping a serious demeanour at all times during games. However, no stern expression is truly unbreakable and the head coach can be coaxed into displaying some human emotion under the right conditions.

“In all honesty, my kids always talk about how I look mad, but what you guys actually see is my thinking face,” Sky said. “I’m actually not mad. Well, sometimes I am. But I’m more so thinking, and it’s just constantly in terms of the work and the job I got to do.”

“If you guys see me smile it’s going to be on those little moments even though it’s not a case where we win a point or the big physical moments. I know everybody gets excited about those, but for a coach, it might sound weird, but you expect these guys to be physical. It’s their ability to do the quality little things. Those are the things that make me smile.”

His squad’s greatest strength is in their size and athleticism. With only one player under six feet tall, their most significant height gain comes from their setter position. Grant Hill, who played behind Olsen in last year’s rotation, is now the Cougars’ starting setter and, at six feet and five inches tall, brings offensive and defensive versatility on every play. That physical advantage makes them feel defiant of expectations for a year of rebuilding, instead seeing themselves as a dangerous force to be reckoned with in Canada West this year.

“For sure our size gives us a lot of pressure on the block,” Hill said. “I would say this year the expectations are a rebuilding year from everybody else but our team. We’re setting our own [expectations] and we’re really hoping to get to the playoffs again.”

The Cougars men’s volleyball season starts at home on Kenyon Court as they host the University of the Fraser Valley Cascades on Oct. 25 at 6 p.m. All games will also be broadcast live on Canada West TV. 

Women’s Volleyball

While the men’s team is adjusting to new faces on the court, the women’s volleyball team roster is largely the same as last year’s squad. However, those players are being led by a new head coach, Rhonda Schmuland, whose resume as a former ACAC head coach and professional player in France brings elevated expectations to the team. 

Plus, with last year’s team leader Jessica Osczevski graduating, new players are stepping into veteran roles and helping enforce newer, more positive culture and habits for the group, including fourth-year middle blocker Mya Morgan. Now having to fit into a leadership mould for the squad, Morgan feels more than comfortable having the younger women on the team look up to her for advice.

“It’s crazy that I can even call myself a vet because, and I know everyone says this, but it goes by so fast. You blink and now you’re one of the older girls,” Morgan said. “Now that I’ve recognized that, it’s helped me realize that I need to really give it my all these next two years because I want to finish my career here as a Cougar”

“I want to be a supportive person for my teammates. I want to be a good role model and lead by example for other people. Being a vet is more than just that experience. It’’s how you carry yourself.”

As a middle blocker, Morgan is in the thick of the action all the time, tasked with blocking tough attack attempts from opposing teams and spiking the ball with strength on offence. With 163 kills on 351 total attempts last season, her efficiency comes from her passion for a simple-sounding but super-significant aspect of the game, hitting the ball.

The team hopes to undergo a transformation in their culture and work ethic in order to make the playoffs this season, something they were unable to do last year. With new head coach Rhonda Schmuland at the helm, the changes have been drastic but positive, injecting new energy into this squad before the season even begins. Her best feature as a coach may be her ability to relate to and understand the tribulations of her players’ lives as female student athletes.

“First of all, I absolutely love Rhonda,” Morgan said. “She’s very understanding of the emotional aspect of being a woman in sport because obviously that’s a whole different thing, especially when it’s a team of 16 young women.”

“She’s very involved in making sure that we’re eating enough because quite frankly, a lot of us are not eating nearly enough. As athletes, you’re supposed to be eating more, which as women, you’re never told to do that.”

Last year, the Cougars played the most sets of any team in the conference, consistently finding themselves locked into tight, five-set matchups. Like Floyd Mayweather against Conor McGregor, the team’s strategy is to lead their opposition into deep waters, fighting late in matches and proving that their conditioning and game preparation is the best in Canada West.

“We’ve accepted now that we if we want to be a super successful team, that we’re probably going to be a five setting team,” Morgan said. “If we want to get wins on the board, we will have to be a team that’s gonna fight and have high stamina.”

“Now we lift three times a week instead of two, and we practice six times a week instead of five. On top of that, [Schmuland] definitely does a lot of stamina training in practice and at tournaments, so she’s been kind of training us to be able to withstand that long. If it goes to a five set two days in a row, that we can withstand that and that we can still play through that.”

With long, close games almost guaranteed and a revitalized energy, Morgan and the rest of the team hope to give fans a reason to come out to games. After posting the 12th best average home attendance numbers last year, the Cougars want fans to know that every game this season will be well worth attending.

“We’re a fun team to watch, we’re loud, we’re aggressive, we’re tenacious,” Morgan said. “We’re a super passionate team and we make that very clear, and that is super fun to watch. ”

The Cougars women’s volleyball team start their season on Oct. 26 as they host the University of the Fraser Valley Cascades at 8 p.m. on Kenyon Court. All games will additionally be broadcast on Canada West TV.

Zafir Nagji is the Sports Editor for The Reflector 2024-2025. His greatest interests are, in order, basketball, F1, hockey, soccer, and football, but he’ll watch anything with a competitive enough spirit.