COVID-19 may have changed the way Memorial University varsity sports teams did off-season business the past five or six months — hasn’t the pandemic thrown a wrench into just about everything these days? — but the Sea-Hawks’ women’s volleyball team certainly hasn’t been sitting idle waiting for something to break.
Rather, coach John Slauenwhite has been very busy working the phone lines in a recruiting effort that should see the Sea-Hawks improve on their winless 2019-20 Atlantic University Sport season.
So far, it appears Slauenwhite deserves a passing grade.
Pretty remarkable that the Sea-Hawks mentor lured at least four recruits from outside the province to St. John’s when the AUS season is still very much up in the air.
Because of the pandemic, the AUS conference decided to suspend all regular seasons and playoff competition until January 2021 for its member teams.
Memorial’s Athletic Department, however, is “hopeful” for a condensed schedule for men’s and women’s basketball, women’s volleyball, swimming, track and field and curling, all winter sports.
Volleyball is scheduled to start in October, basketball on Nov. 1.
AUS female volleyball teams usually play a 20-match schedule, and Slauenwhite’s hope is to play a 15-game season.
Either way, he expects to be ready, thanks to a successful four or five months of recruiting.
Newcomers include American Lydia Grawer of St. Louis, Mo., Janeen Pellatt of Yorkton, Sask., Jenna Poole of Winnipeg and Mia Hartling of Bridgewater, N.S.
“It was definitely busy,” Slauenwhite said. “All those kids had already been in for visits, and we did a lot of stuff through Zoom and telephone conversations.”
Grawer’s story is an interesting one. A “very dynamic outside attacker,” Grawer learned of Memorial from a teacher of hers in St. Louis, who attended Marine Institute in St. John’s.
“She connected with me here at Memorial, of all places,” Slauenwhite said. “At first, she was looking to do something along the lines of marine biology, but has now decided she’s going to attend Memorial.”
Grawer visited Memorial prior to Christmas, and had some visits to U.S. universities in December and January.
“Her No. 1 place was Memorial, and we stayed in touch,” Slauenwhite said. “She’s a super athletic left-handed kid. We’re pretty excited about her.
“Her ability to jump, block and attack is going to allow her to make an impact in the AUS.”
Poole played a few years for the University of Brandon and B.C.’s Fraser Valley University. She also spent some time at the national training centre.
“She’s doing her residency (in medicine) here,” Slauenwhite said. “She came for a visit last fall, introduced herself and said she’d like to get back in it. She won a couple of national titles at the club level growing up, high school championships.
“She’s a very good and experienced setter. She just hasn’t played the last five, six years. She stumbled into my office, basically. She really wanted to be on the east coast, even though she grew up in Winnipeg.”
Pellatt is a third-year middle transfer from Alberta’s Olds College.
“A lot of the Alberta college league kids try to move on,” Slauenwhite said. “She reached out and we were looking to add a middle, so it fit together. She came for a visit before things got shut down in March.”
Nova Scotia’s Hartling was in St. John’s last season for Volleyfest. She played on the Nova Scotia provincial team last summer.
Slauenwhite said his Sea-Hawks assistant coach, Nick Higgins, is a friend of the Nova Scotia coach. Hartling reached out to Slauenwhite prior to coming over for Volleyfest.
“She’s a fun player to watch at the libero position,” he said. “Mia reads the play very well on defence, moves really well on serve receive, and she really pays attention to the fine details as a libero.”
Slauenwhite said after everything shut down in March because of the pandemic, and no in-person recruiting was possible, “it was a matter of staying in touch with all of them and keeping them involved as much as possible.
“From a coaching perspective, you have to continue to follow up with them, to see how their school season is going, how their club season is going.
“They appreciate when you’re showing interest. It’s very important.”
Slauenwhite expects to start full team workouts in early September.
Robin Short is The Telegram’s Sports Editor. He can be reached by email [email protected] Follow him on Twitter @TelyRobinShort
