Memorial University Of Newfoundland 1980, Female Volleyball Team
The first TEAM to be inducted into the Provincial Volleyball Hall of Fame is the 1980 Female Volleyball Team from Memorial University of Newfoundland. This team consisted of a core of players who also played for Memorial in 1979 and formed the Canada Games Team.
In 1979, they were St. John’s Molson Cup Champions as well as Provincial Senior Champions. The University team was ranked 10th in Canada that year by the Canadian Volleyball Association. This marked the first time a team from Newfoundland had reached a National ranking. Memorial won the Atlantic Universities Volleyball Championship that year for the first time. The team was not entered in the league, but was permitted to challenge the fourth place team for a spot in the play-offs. MUN defeated Dalhousie 3-1 in the final Match and went on to represent the Atlantic Region at the CIAU championships at McMaster University.
The Memorial University Team also represented the Province at the CVA Senior championships in Toronto and finished in 7th place. MUN attended the National Junior championships in Edmonton and came away with a fourth place finish. In November, MUN won the Dalhousie-Acadia Invitational tournament and in December, they also won the U de Moncton invitational.
In 1980, most of the same players were back and MUN continued its winning ways. The team won the Senior Provincials and traveled to Halifax for the Senior National where they improved on their placing from the previous year by finishing 6th. In the Atlantic Universities Championship, MUN finished second. They also represented the Province in the Atlantic Provinces Senior championships and finished in first.
A highlight of the year came at the National Junior Championships in Winnipeg when MUN won a silver medal, losing to Scarborough Titans 16-14 in the fifth game of the Gold Medal match.
MUN finished second to Dalhousie in the Atlantic Universities Championships at Dalhousie in 1980 by a score of 2-3, but defeated Dalhousie 2-0, to win the Dal-Acadia invitational. At Saint John, New Brunswick, MUN won the Atlantic AA championship with a 3-2 win over Dalhousie.
The team traveled to the U de Moncton invitational and defeated U de Sherbrooke to win that tournament. MUN also competed in the National Juvenile tournament in Calgary and placed 4th.
At home, Memorial were unstoppable in 1980, winning the Provincial Senior, Junior and Juvenile Championships. They were named Provincial Team of the Year!
The core of the 1980 MUN female Volleyball Team won 2 AUAA championships and five consecutive Atlantic Senior AA titles.
Kathy Noseworthy and Sue Rendell were named to the Senior National Team in 1980 and Joan Buck was named to the Junior National Team.
