On February 28, the VIU women’s volleyball team captured Provincial gold. Third year players Megan Roselund and Ashley Van Acken sat down with The Navigator to discuss their underdog season, the Nationals in Quebec, and their favourite breakfast cereal.
What are you looking forward to regarding the Nationals in Quebec?
M: I’m excited to just go there, excited to see how our other teammates adapt to the situation. For some of them it’s their first time being at Nationals. I like playing teams we’ve never played before
A: This is my last year playing. I’m excited to leave an impression on all the babies. It took a lot to win provincials. We are the underdogs; we have so much more to prove. It’s kind of, like my last shebang. There’s nothing to lose anymore.
So, you’re like role models?
A: Every one that played before you, they set the stage. They’re so impressionable, it’s like you’re handing them something.
How long have you played volleyball?
A: I’ve played since grade five.
Did you love it?
A: Yeah, definitely. I just got really interested in it. My best friends always played. I grew up with our Libero, Kelsey Johnson; she played for Rush Volleyball, a club in Campbell River. They kinda got me hooked, they were always the best.
M: Yeah, I’ve been playing since grade five. My sister got me into it, I was always at her tournaments. I’d always have the ball with me.
Did you choose VIU for its volleyball?
M: Yeah. My sister went here for five years, and I was always kind of in her shadow. I was looking at Capilano, Camosun, and a team from Alberta. I realized I didn’t like snow, so I didn’t wanna go to Alberta. Then I thought, you know what, VIU is the best team.
A: I was supposed to go to VIU straight out of high school. But I bailed out in July, right before the season was supposed to start. Before I took the year off, I signed with Capilano. I played a year there, but I just wanted to be on a team that would win. I asked the coach if he would take me back, and he said yes.
If you weren’t playing volleyball, which sport would you play?
M: Tennis. Or soccer. I played soccer for 13 years; and I’m a very big fan of tennis, no actual skill. I’ve got roller blades too.
A: None. I’d probably just be a professional couch potato.
Favourite professional sports franchise?
A: I gotta say Vancouver Canucks. My dad and brother are huge hockey fans and if I even breathe anything else, it’d be the end of me.
M: I don’t watch sports. And if I said something and someone read it, they’d ask, “Megan, who’s on their team?”
What do you hope to do with your degree?
A: I’m super big on the environmental movement. My dream is to work with developing countries so they do not become the western world, and preserve their respect to the resources and land. Last year, I went to Belize and did a huge environmental assessment on a village. We did a compendium for the government and I got my first published report.
When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A: An actress. Even if I wasn’t going to be an actress, I wanted to be famous, fa-mous.
M: I think I wanted to be a singer.
Who’s your childhood hero?
A: Dog the Bounty Hunter. I was obsessed.
M: I’d say my dad, but that’s lame.
If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
M: Not in BC, though? California.
A: Brazil, on the coast.
What’s the most complicated thing you know how to cook?
A: I just like to cook. Whole turkey dinner, I could handle it. You gotta have the brussel sprouts going at the right time, the stuffing in the turkey…
M: Scalloped potatoes.
Favourite breakfast cereal?
A: Not a cereal girl. But if I had to, Raisin Bran, but like every four months.
M: Lucky Charms.
You like the marshmallows?
M: Obviously.
