Lords’ setter sets the bar high
February 28th, 2012 | Sports | No Comments »Photo, video and story by Caley Bedore
Awards for the Durham Men’s Volleyball players just keep coming. The Lords competed in the provincial championships this weekend and, although they came in fifth place, they still brought home some hardware. Brad VanHartingsveldt, Durham’s new starting setter, stormed onto the radar and was named the OCAA East Region Rookie of the Year.
VanHartingsveldt shows a set
“I really wasn’t thinking about the award,” says VanHartingsveldt. “It’s pretty cool, but I was just focused on the team and the win.”
Check out what he has to say about the award!
VanHartingsveldt is originally from Newcastle and walked on to the court to set for the Lords this season but said it wasn’t that easy to get back into volleyball shape.
“I took some time off after high school so I was rusty,” he says. “That was probably the hardest thing to overcome.”
Getting back into it may have been hard but the rookie says it was awesome to play with the Lords. “I loved playing for Durham,” he says. “It’s a great group of guys and great coaches.”
The Lords placed fifth in the provincial championships this past weekend giving them a 23-11 overall season record which is just one win shy of the season high set last year. Although the Lords didn’t come home with a medal VanHartingsveldt says they had some great games.
“We met Nipissing first and came back from 2-0 to send it into a five sets,” says VanHartingsveldt. “We came up short, but those games were probably some of the best volleyball we played all year. Although we weren’t able to finish up how we wanted to, we had really strong games.”
