With a Lion鈥檚 roar, Salmon Arm athlete Quinn McTavish is receiving provincial recognition in Ontario just four years after serving her first volleyball. 

As a first-year student and player on the York University Lions women鈥檚 volleyball team, the 18-year-old local has been chosen fourth out of seven top players for the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Best in Class All Rookie Team. 

At the end of every season, coaches and other association members vote on their top seven rookie players of the 18 teams they thought performed the best and 鈥渕ade an impact on the court.鈥� Just first-year players are recognized in the vote as they don鈥檛 usually get the opportunity to play often throughout the season, indicating they really stood out, with McTavish having ranked 11th in both hitting efficiency and blocks per set. 

鈥淲arming up in her rookie season fast, (McTavish) was no stranger to the team as a wall to work through,鈥� the team said in an Instagram post announcing her Best in Class selection. 鈥淪he quickly built her offence up to begin to build towards what we know will be an OUTSTANDING career ahead.鈥�

McTavish, a middle blocker, has only been playing volleyball for four years since starting in Grade 10 at Salmon Arm Secondary Sullivan in 2021.

鈥淚 started with Salmon Arm鈥檚 high school volleyball team and then I just realized that I enjoy it more than I thought,鈥� she said, adding that as there weren鈥檛 really any volleyball clubs in Salmon Arm at the time, she joined some other local players who were commuting to play with the Vernon Sky Club team. 

That first year, McTavish made the 鈥楤鈥� team which, while not the top tier, still provided more opportunity.

鈥淚 just thought it was really fun鈥� being able to compete for a few months instead of just a month or two with high school volleyball,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd playing with other people鈥� from Vernon, was pretty cool.鈥�

The following year, going into Grade 11, McTavish again tried out with Sky and this time made their top team. In Grade 12 she really stepped up her game, temporarily moving to Vernon to enrol in a volleyball academy where half the day was spent on the court and schooling done online. 

Along with her regional accomplishments, in  2023 McTavish tried out for Team BC in Vancouver, which 鈥渉elps get a lot more recognition from university coaches.鈥� That paid off for the young athlete as she was recruited to York University in her grad year, with the coach offering her a scholarship to play there, where she secured a starting spot at the beginning of the season.

Though currently enrolled in kinesiology, after graduation McTavish hopes to go to Europe and play volleyball professionally for a few years, which is 鈥渓ooking pretty good so far.鈥�