For Kendra Wayling, who graduated from Mount Sentinel in 2007, playing university volleyball is all about teamwork and sacrifice.
Wayling was rewarded for her strong effort throughout the season by winning the University of British Columbia – Okanagan’s (UBC-O) Female Student Athlete of the Year.
“I think it was because I had to be so versatile this year and help our team at many different positions,” she said. “The fact I was able to do that, a lot of people were impressed. My grades are pretty good too, so that’s part of it.”
Wayling, who is 22-years-old, just finished her second year at UBC-O. She usually plays middle, but an injury to the Heat’s regular setter forced her into playing setter for much of the season.
“It was our first year in CIS (Canadian Interuniversity Sport), the university league,” she said. “It was a very big year for us. It was a lot of fun. We did a lot better than most people thought we would. We won six matches.”
Wayling said the adjustment from the B.C. college league to the CIS was challenging but enjoyable.
“It was a lot harder than it’s been in previous years but it was fun to play at that level,” she said. “The change in the level of competition is huge. We were playing bigger teams that we’re a lot more experienced. We were playing teams at an elevated level of competition. So we lost a few matches we maybe should’ve won just because we weren’t experienced enough.”
Wayling was born in Trail and grew up in the West Kootenay. She went to Stanley Humphries in Castlegar in grades 8 and 9 and then moved on to Mount Sentinel in South Slocan to play for the strong volleyball program.
Her Mount Sentinel team won Provincial bronze in her grade 11 year, and then won gold at Provincials in her senior year. The school also won gold at basketball Provincials as well.
“We were ranked number one for volleyball, so we were expecting to win,” said Wayling. “But it was still exciting. For basketball it was more competition, so it was pretty exciting to win it.”
After graduating from Mount Sentinel, Wayling went to North Idaho College in Coeur d’Alene, near Spokane. She planned to play both basketball and volleyball but ended up focusing on just volleyball.
“I really enjoyed it,” she said. “I played power down there, so it was a different position than I’m used to. I liked it.”
She enjoyed her time down south but after tearing her ACL near the end of the season and having surgery, she returned to Canada.
She is enjoying her studies at UBC-O, where she is taking arts and psychology courses.
“I love it,” she said. “Kelowna is a really nice city. I really enjoy my classes and my professors.”
Wayling is currently finished up final exams at the school and plans to return next year. She expects the team to be much improved as they head into their second year at the CIS level.
“I love my team,” she said. “My team is the best. Steve (Manuel) is just an awesome coach. My team has a lot of chemistry. We get along really well and have a great time together. I’m really, really happy. I think we’ll be really good next year. We’re bringing in some really good recruits and we were pretty young this year so we’ll have some experience playing at the CIS level.”
