Coach Janelle Rozema brought the UFV women's volleyball team together on March 4 for a meeting at the UFV Athletic Centre. As the 13 young athletes filed in, each received one piece to a puzzle that they assembled on a nearby table. As the pieces were put into place, the players started to buzz, and when the puzzle was complete, they loudly cheered.
On that puzzle were the words 'Coach of the Year,' recognizing Janelle for the outstanding work she did this year with her Cascades. Though the Canada West conference bestows it as an individual title, she wanted her crew to know that it's just as much a team award.
"I take comfort in knowing that I work really hard and invest a lot in our athletes, but I wouldn't be able to do any of this if they didn't buy in and put in the work too," Janelle said. "Because they were able to do something really special this season, I was acknowledged by my peers, so it's as much about them as it is about me."
Something really special' is an apt description of the 2024-25 campaign, a history-maker for the Cascades. UFV went 17-3 in regular season play, earning top spot in the Canada West standings for the first time since joining the conference just four years ago. They rose as high as fifth in the national U-SPORTS rankings, wildly exceeding expectations.
Preseason prognosticators had UFV sixth in the conference after losing a handful of key players.
"That included our player of the year, Gabrielle Attieh, and other coaches figured this would be more of a rebuilding year for us," Janelle said. "They saw our big guns graduating and us going with younger players and didn't expect us to become so good so quickly.
It's a testament to the program she's been building the last four years just three full seasons if you factor in pandemic disruptions. In UFV's first Canada West season, Janelle believes opponents thought they could just roll into town and leave with an easy win. But now they know they must play their best to beat the Cascades.
"Every year we've surpassed the expectations people have had of us, and I think that's because I've been able to recruit athletes who are good at volleyball, but also understand what our identity is," she said.
Janelle says there's not "a lot of bells and whistles here," joking that players don't have access to seven Starbucks on campus, in comparison to larger universities. But they do have access to all the resources they need to win a national title.
"The athletes who buy into what actually impacts your ability to perform - really good strength and conditioning, on court training, nutrition, rest and recovery, mental training - they're the ones who are really willing to work to get results."
Janelle enjoyed this season, even though it ended in a disappointing way with a playoff loss last weekend. If she could start the 2025-26 season tomorrow, she would, because she's feeling very optimistic about what comes next.
"I want to qualify for nationals, and I wanted that so bad this year," she said. "I believe we have the group that can do it because we're keeping most of our core. I want our older players to have that experience before they leave, and I want our younger players to have that experience, so it starts to become a norm for this program.
"I am very excited about where we are, and very excited about where we're going."
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