by Ken Wiebe
the Carillon

Krista Rennick was in the right place at the right time.

And she didn't even know it.

After the first day of the University of Regina women's volleyball tryouts in September, Rennick was told by her roommate, Jaclyn Rogoschewsky, that there was an opening at the setting position.

When Stephanie Penner, 1998-99 GPAC Rookie of the Year, quit the team, the Cougars' were in danger of not fielding a team. Rennick, who had been playing women's league volleyball, never thought of trying to fill the opening until the conversation with Rogoschewsky.

"She told me just to come out and have fun, just to be there again and play again," said Rennick, who played on Cougars' coach Miles Kydd's club team in Grade 11 and 12. "I was a little apprehensive because I had committed to teaching music to seven students, so I had to call all those young kids and cancel them and leave them without a teacher. That was really tough."

Rennick was about to go into an accelerated learning program with coach Kydd. The Rouleau resident was thrust into a position where she had to adapt to a new offense and become familiar with a new set of hitters.

"Her training background and elite volleyball background was limited so there was a steep learning curve for her," said Kydd. "Combine that with the fact she was thrown to the wolves, it was a tough job. She had tough days but never lost the will to get better."

"There was nothing external," said Rennick, who loves music and has her Grade 10 in piano. "It had nothing to do with the coach or the players or any pressure. Basically, it was all internal with me. Getting over this thing in my mind, that it was some huge deal.

"I had to overcome that apprehensiveness," she continued. "I needed to get out there and play. Forget that this is university and it's a whole new ball game, because it's really not. It's still just the game."

It didn't come easy. Although Rennick won the starting job in the exhibition season, the Cougars got off to a slow start and had only registered two wins by the Christmas break.

Talks with her mother and roommate helped her turn the corner.

"To be honest, I only became really comfortable in mid-January," Rennick admitted. "I was getting so frustrated. It seemed like my setting had gotten worse. I was thinking to myself, 'why can't I do it?' Then I just said to myself that I can do it."

Shortly after, Rennick's play improved and the Cougars got on a roll. They captured the Dalhousie Classic in Halifax and finished the season on a hot streak, winning four of their last six matches to overcome Winnipeg for second place in the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC). Along with that came an automatic berth in the CIAU Women's Volleyball Championship in Winnipeg.

"Getting there itself didn't surprise me," said Rennick, a third year engineering student interning at Trans Gas. "But being there was incredible. It's something I never thought I'd get to experience. Everyone takes their game to a completely new level. Any athlete out there wants to play better than they've ever played."

Rennick's improved play falls under that category and it didn't go unnoticed. Prior to the national championship, Rennick was named GPAC Rookie of the Year and to the CIAU All-Rookie team.

Those personal accolades are special but they came as quite a surprise.

"It's probably a better trophy for my mom," she said. "I was really happy that I received it all that but it gives me a bit of a challenge to myself to show that I deserved it. I didn't expect it, any of it but all of a sudden here it is."

The only other Cougar to be named to the CIAU All-Rookie team was setter LoriAnn Mundt in 1989-90. Coincidentally, that was the last time Regina advanced to the CIAU championship. Mundt went on to have a successful university career and went on to star with the women's national team.

Despite the success of her rookie campaign, Rennick feels she still has a lot to prove.

"I want to be comfortable with myself and know that I deserve to be out there," she said. "It's going to be a lot different next year in how I approach it mentally. I've never really had an opportunity to get mentally prepared for any type of sport in my life. The big challenge will be to turn over my brain and see how I can handle it mentally."

Kydd said that the main challenges facing Rennick in the off-season will be physical ones.

"She needs to work hard to increase her power and quickness over the summer," Kydd acknowledged. "Accuracy and consistency are huge for a setter and I think she needs to improve in these areas also, but I would think that for every setter."

As for the coming season, Rennick is looking forward to drawing on her experience and running the offense.

"Now I'm comfortable with that," she offered. "It's like a problem to solve, how to get a kill or what the best way is. I feel more comfortable now than I probably did 75% of the season. I guess that's self-explanatory but I do look forward to next year just because now I have that knowledge. If I'm starting here, who knows where I'm going to finish up next year?"