Fenter brings international flavour to Sea-Hawks
‘Dynamic’ MUN women’s volleyball import from California proving valuable to program
Five months into her time with the Memorial University Sea-Hawks women’s volleyball team, import Braxton Fenter has been fully indoctrinated into Newfoundland life.
She’s enjoyed a trip around the bay when team captain Jill Snow took the squad to a cabin outside her hometown of Bishop’s Falls for some pre-season team-building. She’s experienced the culinary delights of jiggs’ dinner and toutons, both of which she describes as, “awesome.”
And she sheepishly admits to being screeched in, earning her at least honourary status as a Newfoundlander.
Should she continue to excel on the court for the Sea-Hawks in Atlantic University Sport conference play, which continues against the top-ranked Dalhousie Tigers this weekend in Halifax, the 20-year-old from Vacaville, Calif., could see that cachet improve to official Newfoundlander.
Thus far, coach John Slauenwhite says the six-foot Fenter, whom he discovered via a YouTube video she posted in her final year at Yavapai Junior College in Prescott, Ariz., has come exactly as advertised.
“She’s a third-year athlete with excellent leadership skills and brings a lot to the table with our team. It’s been very positive,” Slauenwhite said.
Fenter’s greatest skill on the court, and the one paying immediate dividends for the Lady Hawks, is her blocking ability. She’s currently ranked fourth in the AUS in total blocks (36), block assists (24), and blocks per set (.82). She leads the team in all those categories, save for the latter which is held down by fellow middle Layna Levorson (.83).
“Statistically, we’re in the Top 2 in blocking in the league this year and last year we were probably at the bottom, so we’re quite happy with the improvement,” says Slauenwhite who calls Fenter, “a dynamic player”.
She’s also contributing to the Sea-Hawks’ offence, ranking fourth in kills (45), service aces (14), points (83) and points per set (1.9).
Memorial wasn’t the only option for Fenter following her time at Yavapai. There were other schools which expressed interest in her services when she received correspondence from Slauenwhite and Memorial Athletics.
“I thought it was just another email and at the bottom it said, ‘Newfoundland, Canada’. I was intrigued right away,” says Fenter, who had never travelled outside the United States.
“I got on the phone and he wanted me to come up for a visit, so that same day I went and got all my passport stuff filled out and here I am.”
When Fenter arrived for a visit in April, all that remained was the grey, salt-stained remenants a long, hard winter. Hardly the stuff of postcards. Her first true taste of a Canadian winter came this fall.
“We all ran outside and and played around in the snow and after like 15 minutes, we were too cold and ran back inside,” recounts Fenter, who never saw much in the way of snow in Vacaville, just north of San Francisco, and only dustings during her time in northern Arizona.
“It was so different. There was so much snow, but it was pretty, though.”
With two years of AUS eligibility after this season and another three years to complete her undergrad, likely from MUN’s School of Human Kinetics and Recreation, Fenter will be seeing a lot more white stuff in the years to come.