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www.insidehalton.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Friday, D ecem ber 1, 2 0 1 7 | 1 8 L iv in g her dream Tori Gorrell wanted to play for Penn State since she was 12; now she's helping the No. 1 Nittany Lions chase a national title By Herb Garbutt Oakville Beaver staff "Is that your daughter?" Tori Gorrell still laughs at the question. The 12-year-old soccer goalie stood just a shade under 6-feet tall when that question was posed to her 6-foot-8 Canadian Football Hall of Fam e father Miles. "It was pretty obvious," Tori says. "We were like gi ants on the field." The reason for the inquiry was to ask if his daughter had ever played volleyball. Gorrell did play for her el ementary school, but by her own admission, she wasn't very good. "My sister (Veronica) played, so we'd go out and we would be bumping the ball back and forth and I would skyrocket it into the trees," Gorrell says. "I was awful." Still, her dad took the information about the upcom ing volleyball camp being held by a club team. Until then, Gorrell had her heart set on being a professional goalkeeper, but after having so m uch fun at the camp, her focus began to shift. Soon after she was asking coaches if she could stay in the gym after practice to work on her game. Within a year, with the schedules of her two sporting pursuits clashing, she quit soccer. Her goal was now to play for the best college volleyball team. Except, being so new to the sport, she had no idea who that was. So Gorrell went on the Internet and discovered that Penn State University had won the NCAA champion ship, their third of four straight national titles. That was the day she decided she was going to be a Nittany Lion. "I had very high hopes for myself," she said. "I thought, `maybe one day I can get there.'" · · · · · Friday, Gorrell and her Penn State teammates will open the NCAA tournament as the top-ranked team in the country. Gorrell, the team's starting middle blocker, capped the Nittany Lion's 29-1 regular season by earning Big Ten Conference defensive player-of-the-week honours for her contributions in a pair of wins over nationallyranked opponents, including a career-high nine blocks against Minnesota. Despite being the number one seed, Penn State is taking nothing for granted. If there's a team that knows you can't give an opponent any opportunity, it's the Nittany Lions. Penn State advanced to the third round of last year's tournament where they were on the verge of upsetting defending national champion Nebraska. Tenth-ranked Penn State took the first two sets and had double match point, leading 2 4 -2 2 in the third. But the Cornhuskers rallied for four straight points to win and built off that mom entum to take the final two sets. "It was disappointing how the season finished, but that's why we've trained so hard this year," Gorrell said. "W e didn't want to have that same thing happen again." Penn State heads into this year's tournament on a 19-m atch winning streak. It suffered its only loss in September to Nebraska, the tournament's fifth seed. · · · · · Gorrell's fascination with Penn State reached a point where she recognized the team's assistant coach in the stands at a tournament. "I wonder who she's here to w atch," she thought to herself. Afterward, she could hardly contain her excitement when she saw the Nittany Lions' assistant talking to her coach. A visit was arranged and, of course, Gorrell showed up a day early. Penn State's job was the equivalent of selling water to someone lost in the desert for weeks. Gorrell verbally committed in Grade 10, then ago nized for two years as she waited to formalize it with her letter of intent. She passed the time by helping the Abbey Park Ea gles win back-to-back provincial titles and an Ontario under-18 championship with her club team, Leaside. Gorrell arrived in Happy Valley excited to begin her collegiate career at her dream school. But she would have to wait a year before suiting up for the Nittany Lions in a match when the coaching staff decided to redshirt her for the first year. "It was tough at first. I thought I'd be able to con tribute, but then you realize the girls ahead of you are All-Americans," she said. "I got into practice and they kicked my butt." Always the tallest player on the court, the 6-foot-2 Gorrell realized that a year to adapt to the collegiate game was probably the best thing for her. "I'm playing girls that are 6-foot-8," she said. "I'm looking across the net and thinking, `You expect me to block her?'" Realizing height was no longer her ally, Gorrell has had to rely on smarts and speed. She started every match last season and this year she's demonstrated that she made the most of her redshirt season. Gorrell was one of only 10 players in the Big Ten to average a block per set, and one of only three freshmen or sophomores among that group. The 20-year-old still finds it hard to believe the situ ation in which she now finds herself. "You think about all the girls who have come here to play," she said, "and every day, I think of how lucky I am to be here." The only thing that could make it better is bringing the national title back to Penn State so the next aspir ing volleyball player knows who is the best. o rrs im p o i Tori Gorrell jumps to spike the ball in a match against Rutgers earlier this season. Gorrell was one of 10 players in the Big Ten Conference to average at least one block per set. Penn State, which is 29-1, opens the NCAA women's volleyball tournament today. | photo courtesy of Penn State Athletics Martino with 75. Eric Gowling rushed for 86 yards for Blakelock and Joel Williams caught four passes for 41 yards. Blakelock beat Webb 24-8 in the season open er. The Chargers responded allowing just six points the rest of the season, winning their next five, including a 23-0 win over the Tigers, to fin ish first. The Chargers then blanked Burlington Central 4 8 -0 in the semifinals. Martino leads Garth Webb to senior tier 2 football title Jake Martino scored a go-ahead touchdown in the final seconds of the first half and added two more in the second half as the Garth Webb Char gers defeated the T.A. Blakelock Tigers 21-10 in the Halton Secondary School Athletic Associa tion Tier 2 senior football championship game. Martino caught a 34-yard TD pass from Kaiden Gilbert with five seconds to play in the open ing half to cut Blakelock's lead to 10-7. His one-yard run 3:41 into the third gave the Chargers their first lead of the game. He added a seven-yard run for a major 22 seconds into the fourth quarter to extend the lead to 21-10. Blakelock opened the scoring on Joel Wil liams' 26-yard field goal. A Martino punt got the Chargers on the board with a single point in the second quarter, but Blakelock extended the lead to 10-1 on Jam es Vann's 1-yard touchdown run. Webb racked up 20 7 rushing yards in the game, led by Nicolas Huiskamp with 77 and