To see Michelle Torressan is to see a humble, unassuming young woman, so it may come as a surprise to Cap students that behind such a soft spoken exterior lies a ruthless killer, one who regularly sends both the volleyball and the hopes of her opponents rocketing to the gym floor of college gyms across the province.
Michelle’s volleyball journey started at a young age, as she followed in the footsteps of her older sister, a role model she says “definitely helped me in my career.” From there, she feasted upon opponents at Richmond’s McRoberts Secondary as well as successfully competing on the club team circuit. Experiencing such success, highlighted by her play on numerous provincial all-star teams, naturally made her look forward to continuing her career at the post-secondary level.Blues head coach Wayne Desjardins was excited about her collegiate career as well. During Torresan’s senior year, college nationals were played at Capilano, and Desjardins brought her to get an idea of how the program was run. Needless to say, she was impressed by both team and coach. “I knew the team was good, and they had done really well at nationals. Wayne is amazing. He pushes us to be the best we can be. He sees potential and tries to get it out of us.”
A testament to her hard work, Michelle has improved over her two previous seasons at Cap. “In my first year I think I was extremely nervous. Once I got more confidence, [and] started playing . . . I just kept going from there.” The six-foot tall outside hitter is now a starter, and leads the team in kills, carrying much of the offensive load for the blues.
Currently the Blues sit at 8-2, second overall in the BCCAA, yet the only real goal for Michelle and her Blues is to bring home the ever-elusive gold medal at college nationals. Like a Dylan Thomas poem, she uses effective repetition to highlight the importance of her goal: “Everyone wants the gold; we are all focused on the gold.”
A major reason why Torressan is such a valuable asset to the Blues Women’s Volleyball team, is her versatility, something she was reluctant to talk about, offering that, “I’m not very good at bragging about myself.” Instead, Torressan embraced the age-old athlete tradition of deflecting the praise to her team when asked about herself. “We are such a tight team and we work hard together. That is what will take us all the way.”
Despite being a fairly quiet person, Michelle’s winning attitude, and tenacity are contagious, affecting the rest of the team and inspiring them onwards towards their ultimate goal.
To ensure continued success in the second half, the Blues need to continue varying the attack and hitting at a faster tempo. Torressan describes herself as “a good all round player. I bring passing and am effective at hitting and putting the ball away.” To continue the Blues down the path to success at nationals Michelle personally hopes to “bring up my attack, help lead the team offensively, and get the ball down when we need it.”
//Colin May
Writer
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