Women's Volleyball Looks to Go Deep with Addition of Ertulova
The CMU Women's Volleyball program is very pleased to announce the commitment of Sofia Ertulova for the 2021-22 MCAC season. The versatile outside hitter is completing her final year of high school as part of the Vincent Massey Collegiate Trojans, but got her junior varsity experience at College Jeanne-Sauve before transferring to Vincent Massey in the fall of 2019.
Resilience and adapting to change is the theme of Ertulova's young career, both in high school and club volleyball. Competing at the "AAAA" level in junior varsity at CJS, her team worked hard to contend against much bigger schools and managed to secure second place in the division, topped only by St Vital rivals and volleyball juggernauts the Dakota Lancers. After transferring to Vincent Massey Collegiate for her first year of varsity, Ertulova was allowed to practice with her new squad but was prohibited from competing according to MHSAA transfer rules. Looking forward to finally stepping onto the court with her new teammates in the green and black of the Trojans for her final year of varsity, the season was abruptly halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Sport Manitoba's "Return to Play" protocols. If there is a silver lining to be found in all of this it's that she's found an even deeper desire to compete, and knows not to take the opportunity to play for granted.
Finding a role to play in new teams is also something that Ertulova is familiar with at the club level. After starting her club career with Vision Volleyball U13, then moving onto Dynamo Volleyball for U14, Sofia found her greatest success playing with Bisons Gold for her U15 and U16 club seasons. It was with that club that she took home gold at the 2018 Bisons tournament, and went on to finish fourth at provincials. Still with the Bisons in 2019, her team headed to Regina for Nationals and brought home Gold in Tier 3 Division 1, the last club nationals held before the pandemic hit. Since then she has continued to train at the club level, with Bandits U17, and most recently with Cobras Volleyball U18.
"Sofia is incredibly driven and capable on the court and in the classroom, which are qualities that every coach hopes for," says Women's Volleyball Head Coach Jayme Menzies of her newest addition. "She is a supportive teammate who leads by exemplifying hard work and discipline. Her effective attack from the front row and back will deepen our offence."
Ertulova is excited to don the Blazers green and gold to join a team brimming with freshmen talent, and to grow together while pushing for success at the MCAC, and CCAA level.
The Blazers are poised to start the 2021-22 season as full members of the Canadian Collegiate Athletics Association (CCAA). The CCAA is the national body for collegiate athletics in Canada, offering 10 national championships in seven sports. The Manitoba Colleges Athletic Conference joins five other established CCAA conferences; PacWest (BC), ACAC (Alberta-Sask), OCAA (Ontario), RSEQ (Quebec) and ACAA (Atlantic). The 2022 CCAA Women's Volleyball National Championships will take place next March at Prince Edward Island's, Holland College.
Printed from: blazers.cmu.ca/womens-volleyball-adds-ertulova
