With a powerful serve, speedy spikes and leadership qualities galore, it’s little wonder Cloverdale’s Samantha Horth has been snapped up by Thompson Rivers University to play on its women’s volleyball team.
Horth – an outside hitter and setter – had been considering McGill, Ryerson, and Waterloo. But the 2014 Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary grad decided to stay in B.C. and go to Thompson Rivers in Kamloops, home to a specialized architectural and engineering technology program she’ll be enrolled in this fall.
Horth had a chance to scope out the campus as a training player, working out at the and even stayed in the dorms.
The school’s architecture and volleyball programs may have turned her head, but the beauty of Kamloops and the friendliness of its citizens also helped seal the deal: “The people are insanely nice,” she said.
Competitive, energetic and a proven team leader, Horth is able to take charge, and push herself and teammates to succeed, according to Ryan Adams of the Volleyball Canada Centre of Excellence, with whom she’s trained for three years.
“Any time you have someone who is a ‘team first’ player works hard in practice and strives to get better every practice will be a good fit for any program,” Adams said.
Her new coach Chad Grim believes she’ll bring energy and grit to the team. She’s the sixth recruit signed since he took over as head coach of the WolfPack.
“She’s an explosive and aggressive wing hitter and a solid back row player who reads the ball well,” adds Sara Corneil, who coached her this past season at Lord Tweedsmuir, where she was the “go to” hitter and team co-captain, earning notice as a hardworking, dedicated athlete with a passion for the game.
Over the past six years, Horth has played club volleyball for several teams, including this year’s provincial champs, Coquitlam Ducks. She was also a training player for Team BC at the U-16 level.
Follow the Cloverdale Reporter on 
Twitter and 
Facebook. View our print edition online.
