A new school, a new gym, a new team, and an entirely new league. Sami Love was set for a new journey and it began late last year. After playing two seasons with the Brandon University Bobcats women's volleyball team, Sami stayed in Brandon; however, she joined the ACC Cougars women's team.
Love immediately helped the Cougars make a playoff push, one that they achieved as they won eight games throughout the season. That was actually tied for the third-most in the league, but they finished in fourth because Providence University had the tie-break.
They came up against the top-ranked USB Rouges in the semi-final and they almost ousted the top team in the league. The Rouges ultimately won the game in five sets.
"It was really exciting to have made the playoffs. ACC has just missed on the playoffs for a number of years so it's really exciting that we made it," said Love. "I think everyone on our team is quite happy with how far we went and the fact that we were only one set away from making it to the finals."
Thanks to her great season numbers-wise and the fact that she was completely committed to being a Cougar, the Dauphinite received a season-end award from the team as well. Love has been named the Cougars' most valuable player for the 2019-2020 campaign.
"Yeah, that was really exciting to find out. I was pretty upset that we didn't get to have our year-end banquet, I was looking forward to that," she added. "With that said, it's a huge honour. I think it goes to show that my hard work, dedication, and commitment really paid off in the end."
When it came to racking up kills this season, there were only three players that had more. Love finished with 231 kills, the fourth most in the conference in her rookie MCAC season.
"I've always come from playing where I haven't been a top attacker and I wasn't getting the attempts as often," continued Love. "As hard as it was on my shoulder getting used to that, it was really nice to finally be able to show my skills a little bit more than I had in the past. It was a nice accomplishment."
Love has now returned home because of COVID-19 and the precautions put in place by ACC. She will return to the Cougars in the fall for her second and final season with the team.
"We're only going up from here. We're bringing in some top recruits and we're going to have a solid group of returnees," she concluded. "I'll do whatever I can to help the team as I have in the past. I'm also excited to see other players step up and help the team win."
Stay tuned as we'll also chat with Sami about what she's going through right now as she's finishing her classes at home. We'll chat with her about the challenges that she's going through and how she's getting through it.
