BELLA VASQUEZ OF COLORADO COLLEGE, a senior outside hitter on the women's volleyball team from Colorado Springs, Colo., has been selected the SCAC Character & Community Female Student-Athlete of the Week for the week beginning November 29.
The SCAC Character & Community award honors the efforts of student-athletes who excel in the field of athletics, and also serve their campus and community.
Throughout her nearly four years at Colorado College, Vasquez has been an invaluable leader of CC’s nationally-ranked volleyball program as well as a role model in terms of how a student-athlete can make a significant impact in their local community.
Unfazed by the challenge of joining a volleyball team loaded with future first-team all-SCAC outside and opposite hitters, Vasquez immediately demonstrated the impact she would make on the team’s success throughout her career.
In just her third career match on the opening weekend of the 2018 season, Vasquez posted the first of 22 career double-doubles with 14 kills and 19 digs in a four-set victory over the University of St. Thomas (Minn.) at Reid Arena.
She went on to play in 33 of 35 matches that year, including 18 as a starter, and helped the Tigers claim the SCAC Championship and the program’s 20th-consecutive appearance in the NCAA Division III Women’s Volleyball Championship.
Her sophomore season began with the same level of effectiveness, with Vasquez hitting .245 while averaging 2.07 kills and 1.65 digs per set. But during a practice before the second round of SCAC crossover matches in early October, she suffered her second season-ending knee injury, tearing the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in her right knee.
While some athletes never completely recover from a catastrophic leg injury, especially in a dynamic sport such as volleyball, Vasquez’s determination to return to the court never wavered. Having overcome the same injury on the opposite leg in high school, she understood the process and the commitment it would take to make a full recovery.
When the 2020 fall season was postponed due to the COVID pandemic, the delay gave Vasquez six additional months to strengthen her knee, and the extra time and attention she received from athletic trainer Kristen McTernan and CC’s Sports Medicine staff paid off in a huge way.
The strategy to begin the 2020-21 spring season was to work Vasquez into the lineup cautiously, playing primarily in the back row as a confidence builder before she began hitting at the pins. That plan lasted two sets into the season opener at Schreiner University. With the match tied after two sets, Vasquez went into the front row and produced 10 kills during a five-set victory.
With its bionic pin hitter back on the court, Colorado College went on to post a 17-0 record, win the SCAC’s regular-season and conference championships, and earn the No. 1 ranking from the American Volleyball Coaches Association.
Vasquez earned first-team all-conference honors for the first time after she ranked fifth in the SCAC and third on the team averaging 2.92 kills per set. She also was 11th in the league with a career-high .270 hitting percentage and 19th averaging 2.98 digs per set.
If the conference recognized a Comeback Player of the Year, Vasquez would have been the unanimous recipient.
During the 2021 campaign, Vasquez proved once again that she is among the most polished six-rotation players in the SCAC and the country. She ranked fourth in the conference with an average of 3.12 kills and was fifth at 3.6 points per set. Vasquez was one of the team’s primary passers and ranked 23rd averaging 2.98 digs per set. She also recorded a career-high 14 double-doubles (kills-digs).
That performance earned Vasquez first-team all-SCAC honors for the second time as well as honorable-mention AVCA all-West Region accolades.
Despite losing nearly a season’s worth of matches to her injury and COVID, Vasquez finished her career with 819 kills and 746 digs, and became one of only 17 players in program history to record 700 or more in each statistical category.
While her on-court activities were paused for nearly 17 months, the additional time afforded Vazquez the opportunity to pursue her passions for community service and academic excellence.
In the Colorado Springs community, Vasquez volunteers with Partners in Housing, which provides one year of transitional housing and supportive services to families experiencing homelessness or at imminent risk of becoming homeless with the goal of achieving self-sufficiency.
She also is active with TESSA, which offers confidential support and services for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault and their children.
On campus, she was a co-leader of a New Student Orientation (NSO) trip.
One of Vasquez’s most memorable service projects was the volleyball team’s affiliation with the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation, which works to improve the quality of life for children who are battling pediatric brain tumors. Vasquez first met 10-year-old Madelyn Book when she became an honorary member of the team, and continues to foster the relationship as a role model and friend.
In the classroom, Vasquez owns a 3.75 grade-point average as an economics major and already has earned three consecutive appearances on the SCAC Academic Honor Roll.
Vasquez will have an opportunity to continue her volleyball career at a more challenging level after she graduates in May. Not only will she pursue a master’s degree at the University of Denver, she has earned the opportunity to play Division I volleyball for one season with the Pioneers as a graduate transfer.
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