For the past three years, Alexa Koshman has exemplified College of the Rockies Avalanche volleyball perfectly.
The only player remaining from the team’s historic 2015-16 Cinderella PACWEST provincial title, in which the Avs forced three upsets as the sixth-seed on route to a championship, Koshman has defied expectations at every turn.
After earning acclaim as a libero in her first two seasons, the 5’5 player out of Lethbridge, took on her natural role as a left side hitter last year and was one of the team’s most reliable kill-producers.
Although head coach John Swanson didn’t want to reveal her position for this year — her last with the program — just yet, he said she will be a big part of the team’s game plan.
“Without giving too much away, because the other teams haven’t seen us yet, I’ll just say like Alexa did last year where she played multiple kinds of positions, I think that will be what she’s required to do [again this year],” Swanson said. “She even set for us in Red Deer, so she’s played three different positions.
“She’s just that versatile of an athlete and I think we can utilize her in lots of different situations.”
According to Koshman, who was last year’s team MVP and has been the women’s Avalanche Award winner for three-straight years, she’s willing to do anything to win.
“Whatever position I am, I’m just going to try and help out the team as much as I can,” she said. “I just [want to] lead by example.”
Koshman, who is in her fourth-year of the Education program offered at the school through the University of Victoria, is set to graduate and will be soaking in her final home opener as much as she can on Friday night.
“I’m super excited [and] am going to give it all I’ve got and have lots of fun,” she said. “A lot of the girls from last year are coming back and I know a couple friends from Lethbridge are coming and [my] family [is too].
“It’s so much better to play in that kind of atmosphere. It’ll be so nice to have people who have supported me throughout my entire volleyball career and have them experience it with me.”
For Koshman, the years she’s spent at COTR and with the Avalanche have been incredibly influential in all respects.
“I have grown so much as not only a volleyball player, but as a person here,” she explained. “I’ll take these memories, these experiences and [these] opportunities wherever I go with my future endeavours.
“COTR made me the person that I am.”
The Avalanche women’s home opener is at 6 p.m. on Friday night against the Camosun Chargers at the College gym.
