Scharff takes long road to lofty goals

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This article was published 28/02/2025 (203 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Danika Scharff left the spotlight for more than four years.

Despite spending a stretch longer than her entire high school volleyball career as a backup, third- or fourth-string setter, the Virden native kept chasing her shot.

Well, she earned it and hasn’t looked back. Scharff finished the Ontario University Athletics women’s volleyball season as one of the best setters in the conference, guiding the Windsor Lancers (13-7) back to the playoffs and more.

For the first time since 2006, they’re in the OUA semifinals, taking on the No. 2-seed Brock Badgers today at 5 p.m. CT, thanks to a massive upset of the No. 3 Western Mustangs last week.

“The fact that this program hasn’t won a quarterfinal game in 20 years is incredible. It was really cool to be part of that,” Scharff said.

The team set goals before the season. The first was simply “win volleyball games.” Mission accomplished.

The top of the list was to play for an OUA medal, and they’ll do that next weekend, colour to be determined.

Clearly, their third-year setter from Virden has been a key reason why.

Scharff finished with 8.77 assists per set, good for third in OUA. She’s also the best attacking and blocking setter in the league, topping the position with 50 kills and 41 blocks.

The five-foot-10 former Team Manitoba athlete added 150 digs, sitting in the top 25 in the entire league.

Looking back, all of the tools she brings to her Windsor squad came from the variety of coaches she played for.

It started in Virden with Steve Densmore’s Club West program and the collegiate’s Golden Bears.

“He thought I was the best blocking setter in all of Manitoba. I honestly give Steve so much credit for teaching me the powerful dump with my left hand,” Scharff said of the main weapon she used to pick up six kills in an upset win at Brock earlier this year.

She initially signed with the Winnipeg Wesmen in 2021, redshirting for the first season back from the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, with three other setters on new coach Phil Hudson’s roster, she realized starting opportunities might be better elsewhere.

Scharff transferred to Windsor and played sparingly her rookie season, then spent time as a blocking sub with a few starts last year before taking over as the starter this season.

“I’m so grateful for the process. I’ve been lucky enough to be on teams in two leagues now. To learn from Phil my first year and so many good players there like Emma Parker, Selva (Planincic) … I’m so grateful for that experience,” Scharff said.

“Moved up a level where I wasn’t starting still but I’m grinding out in practice, I’m the second setter … finally to this year I’m a full starting setter. I’m really grateful I had that progression upwards.”

The Lancers only won six matches last year, missing the post-season.

Suddenly, they more than doubled their win total with Scharff being the main change to the starting rotation.

She’s quick to deflect credit to her teammates, starting with Aliah Admans. The third-year left side led the league with 4.17 kills per set and 300 total kills. She’s a frontrunner for league MVP and not only for her hitting.

“I am so impressed with my passing on my team. I know at one point we were top in the league for serve reception,” Scharff said,

“Admans and Aryn Markett and my serve and pass (libero) Anna Scarfe are the three best passers in the league by far so it’s so easy for me to throw the ball around.”

The Lancers still went into the playoffs as an underdog against 15-5 Western, but felt confident since they tended to play better on the first night of doubleheaders.

Scharff said they’re typically the better-prepared team and it showed in the win over Brock before dropping the following day’s match.

Windsor did the same thing against Waterloo.

Still, the Lancers trailed 2-0 after a pair of nail-biting sets.

“For some reason, even in our coaches’ heads and my head, I was like, ‘I can’t picture myself going home on this bus losing,’” said Scharff, who led her team on a massive comeback, taking the next two sets 25-16.

“Our confidence was too high to stop at that point.”

She finished with 47 assists and 21 digs in her playoff debut.

While they reached their pre-season goals, they’re only hungrier now, knowing a league title and trip to nationals at the University of Manitoba are just two wins away.

“I’m just all in. I’ve done so much film,” Scharff said. “We’ve just got to back to our original goal. We just need to win volleyball games.”

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