Kodiak women hoping to return to ACAC championships next season

By Lethbridge Herald on March 12, 2026.

Nathan Reiter

Lethbridge Herald

While the 2025-26 season was tough for the Lethbridge Polytechnic Kodiak women’s volleyball team, there are plenty of reasons for optimism moving forward.

Lethbridge finished fifth in the ACAC south division with a 5-14 record, falling short of qualifying for the playoffs. The Kodiaks finished the season on a strong note recording four wins in the month of February with back to back weekend sweeps of Olds College and Medicine Hat College.

In an interview with the Herald, head coach Anna Schwark says the results were not what Lethbridge wanted coming into the season.

“On paper, it’s tough to see just the numbers lined up that way. I think team morale wise, we all feel really good right now. 5-14, that doesn’t cut it. Definitely not happy with what we accomplished on paper in terms of the wins and the losses. It’s not a huge shock that’s what our record looks like. It’s not far off of the numbers that I saw us having come this time of the season, just because we were so young. If we ever had a building year, this was it being so outnumbered by our first years.”

The Kodiaks will have two players transferring out in middle Trinity Walton and outside hitter Robyn Rivard. Schwark says Lethbridge still has some players with uncertain futures, but she also expects to bring in some new transfers as well.

“There’s a couple that are a little bit unsure. They’ve finished their programs and they’re not entirely sure. Maybe they’re waiting to get into nursing, which is super competitive here. A couple of girls that are in limbo, but as of right now, we have a huge group returning, which is really fun. This is probably the first time ever that I’ve had over 10 in the gym come spring training. That’s really cool at least that we can still have a lot of bodies in the gym and be working towards something instead of doing a lot of one-on-one stuff with small groups.”

The Kodiaks rostered nine players in their first year of eligibility. Prior to Christmas, the only win that Lethbridge registered was a forfeit from Lakeland College. The Rustlers were forced to forfeit the first eight games of the season due to sanctions placed upon the program after a hazing investigation.

Lethbridge has already started their offseason training to prepare for next season. When it comes to goals, Schwark says the Kodiaks are hoping to return to the playoffs and win a game.

“Our first goal right off the bat is I want to be qualifying for championships. I do think that there’s an opportunity for us to be a top four team. Do I think we’re going to go in there and we’re going to be getting a medal? No, I can’t really say that right now. I’ll be really happy if we can make it to ACAC championships not in that four seed and bypass that first quarterfinal. That’s a goal that I think is attainable and realistic for us. Just because we are getting older, we’re going to have a few transfers come in that will help us. We’ll be looking at potentially a little bit of a bigger roster and just a lot more competition in practice that I think will prepare us for those tough competitive moments through league.”

See a future edition of the Herald for a season wrap on the Kodiak men’s volleyball team.