A Coquitlam athlete's collegiate career has come to an end, but not without some hardware and recognition.
Anika Gatto's efforts to salvage a conference-championship bronze medal with Mohawk College's women's volleyball team, while setting new personal bests in the process, were honoured with the school's 2022-23 female athlete of the year award.
The 23-year-old libero amassed a total of 262 digs in her final campaign, which aided the Mountaineers to an 11-7 record in the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA).
That feat was the most in the OCAA and is a new record set by any Mohawk Mountaineer in a single women's volleyball season.
The Hamilton, Ont., school maintained a four-game win streak heading into the playoffs, to which Gatto added 40 more digs en route to a 3-1 record and a third-place finish in the conference championships.
It was the second consecutive OCAA medal for Gatto, who rallied the Mountaineers to a silver medal in falling just shy of a nationals berth.
Mohawk College plays in the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) — the nation's second-highest level of post-secondary sports.
Gatto suited up for University of Toronto in U SPORTS for the 2018 and 2019 seasons before being recruited by Mohawk in June 2020.
Her first full season, however, was halted by the then restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In total, her Mohawk stint included 25 regular-season starts, 89 sets played, nine assists and 328 digs on the court.
Gatto, an alumna of Team Academy volleyball (Surrey), was also named an OCAA conference championship all-star and to the west divisional first team.
The soon-to-be Mohawk insurance program graduate was given her female athlete of the year award during the Mountaineers athletic banquet on Thursday (April 20).
