She has been a national champion, an All-Canadian, a PacWest player of the year, a 2015 gold medalist and a Vancouver Island University athlete of the year.
But Port Coquitlam volleyball player and VIU Mariners team captain Tylar Turnbull has one more honour to add to her list of accomplishments, after she was named female athlete of the year across all sports in PacWest athletics.
Turnbull played her last game of university athletics in February, wrapping up a career that saw her lead the Mariners women’s team to a CCAA national title.
Along the way, she collected 219 kills and 334 total offensive points during the regular season. She also dominated defensively, recording a conference high 84 blocks in 87 sets played — 14 more than the next closest block total.
Over the course of her career at VIU, Turnbull has been a coach’s dream.
“She offensively is one of the most dynamic middles in the country, but with her defensive skills, her blocking, she’s just extremely well-rounded,” head coach Shane Hyde told the Nanaimo News Bulletin in February prior to Turnbull’s last game.
The Mariners first scouted their future star back when she was playing for Port Coquitlam’s Riverside secondary Rapids, where she played between 2007 and 2011. Turnbull was also a member of the 2009 provincial team and represented the region at the B.C. Summer Games in 2008.
She wasn’t seriously considering VIU, but she was convinced to check out the program and participate in a practice.
“VIU women’s volleyball program is such an amazing program,” she said. “I am so thankful for it, to have had it as part of my life for the last five years.”
-with files from Greg Sakaki
@TriCityNews
