Azusa Pacific’s women’s volleyball player Mattie Shelford grew up around a multitude of different sports. Her main passion growing up was basketball, which she played from 7 until her sophomore year of high school. However, during that last school year, she discovered her desire to play volleyball.
Shelford, a junior and captain on this year’s team, started playing volleyball for her high school in Snohomish, Washington, then quickly got into club volleyball, where her passion for the sport was ignited. She improved quickly and focused her attention on the prospect of playing volleyball at the collegiate level.
“I loved basketball, but I also loved the camaraderie that comes with volleyball; you can only do as much as your teammates do,” Shelford said.
She finished her high school career and chose Azusa Pacific as her next destination because her brother, who is three school years ahead of her, played football for the Cougars until he graduated in 2013. She came to visit her brother often when he was attending APU and quickly fell in love with the school.
“It felt like home to me already,” Shelford said. “The coaches were already recruiting me, and it just felt like it was a perfect fit for me here.”
Since coming to the university in fall 2012, Shelford has seen plenty of changes in team leadership, with Jackie Landers transferring to Winthrop University last year and, more recently, senior Christy Cain graduating in 2014. Many have began to look to Shelford to fill that leadership void, and she is taking it all in stride.
“It was definitely a weird thing to think that I am the age that Jackie and Christy were when I first came in as a freshman.” Shelford said. “Being a captain this year, you assume a leadership role with your team, but just knowing the example that those girls set before me and that now I am in those shoes.”
Head coach Chris Keife said Shelford has stepped up for the team.
“She’s been doing a very nice job in a leadership role, helping the team remember some of our goals, and also in times of importance on the court,” Keife said. “She’s a voice at times when the team needs a voice, and she’s also a playmaker when her team needs a big play or big point.”
Shelford is currently one of many juniors on the Cougar volleyball team, which includes the likes of Ashley Swatek, Joy Reinke, Tristan Racich and Jaden Louie, who all came in as freshmen. Shelford admitted it is fun to lead among peers, but said all her other teammates do a great job of stepping into leadership roles as well.
“It isn’t just leading my peers, but it is also leading my friends as well,” Shelford said. “There aren’t any chemistry issues on the team, which makes being a captain a lot easier.”
Junior teammate Reinke has been playing with Shelford since freshman year.
“She’s made a huge contribution. She’s definitely a leader when it comes to hitting and getting us kills,” Reinke said. “She contributes physically on the court and also as a team leader.”
This season, the team enters NCAA Division II play for the first time, and with that comes some new expectations. Last season, the Cougars advanced all the way to the NCCAA championship game, but lost to rival Point Loma. Shelford said the Cougars are aiming to go to the national championship again, but this time as a full member of the NCAA.