Scott Ehlers was a swimmer during his days at McClintock High School in Tempe, Ariz., and when he graduated, he had never once played volleyball.

Now, Ehlers is a freshman at the University of Manitoba, which has one of the best men's volleyball teams in North America.

He is currently starting at left-side hitter in place of injured senior Peter Sdrolias. In Friday's match against the Lions, Ehlers finished with nine kills, three blocking assists and two digs.

So, how did a lifelong swimmer from Arizona end up on the Manitoba volleyball team?

"I'm from Arizona (and) there's no volleyball in high school there," Ehlers said. "I didn't even know what it was. I just swam."

Ehlers didn't end up at Manitoba right away after high school. He took one year off and then he spent a year at a community college in Mesa, Ariz., before enrolling at Manitoba.

Ehlers, who is 6'5", wasn't even introduced to volleyball until the summer of 1988.

"I didn't start playing volleyball until about a year and a half ago," he said. "Let's say a year after high school . . . I started playing sandball. A friend of mine took me down to play sandball and I caught the volleyball bug.

"And then I started playing indoors. I've just been playing for about a year now indoors."

Being from Arizona and being new to the game of volleyball, Ehlers wasn't considered a volleyball prospect by any California universities, although a few tried to recruit him as a swimmer.

"To go to California would have been real tough because they would have taken a look at me (and said), 'You're from Arizona? No, no you can't play. So forget it.' "

Ehlers didn't forget it, though. He heard about Garth Pischke's program at Manitoba from a friend and secured a tryout.

"My friend Andy was going to go (to Manitoba) and he told me about it, so I started playing indoor and the next year we both drove up and played," Ehlers said. "(Pischke) was going to give me a chance to try out for the team and play and I thought that was great. He guaranteed me at least to practice with the team if I didn't make it."

"I said I can't promise him anything," Pischke explained. "Anybody can try out for our university team and if he makes it, he makes it and if he doesn't, he doesn't.

"So he came along and I could tell right away that he's very athletic. He hasn't had a lot of volleyball background, but he's worked real hard for me. He picks things up real fast, he's an intelligent player. It's just the fact that he's really athletic, I think helps."

So, how is Ehlers surviving the transition from the cactus belt to the snow belt?

"I enjoy it, except for the weather," Ehlers said. "It's cold.

"The guys on the team are just the nicest," he added. "I think they've made the transition to go up here easier. The first semester was real shaky (but) the second semester . . . I've gotten to play a lot more and I'm just trying to get a little playing experience."

"He struggled quite a bit up until Christmas," Pischke said. "We were sort of wondering what was going on and then he took a couple weeks off for Christmas break. Sometimes you get kids who come in and they get fed so much stuff that they don't have time to regurgitate it and then they get a couple weeks off and it all sinks in.

"He came back after Christmas and he's played great ever since."

Ehlers, who is a physical education major, has found that the Canadian curriculum is tougher than what he was used to in Arizona.

"Schools is Canada? Yeah, they're tougher. But I like it, you know, it just makes me work harder and the physical education faculty is really good up there so that's another bonus for me."

Ehlers has already beaten tremendous odds, being a relative newcomer to the sport and playing for one of the top collegiate teams in North America.

"Most of the kids that we have are from our own home province," Pischke said. "These are kids that have come up through the high school system and played a lot of volleyball. That's usually the type of kids that we get that are good volleyball players."

But one high school swimmer from Arizona has proved that you don't need to have years of training to be good at volleyball. Hard work, athletic ability and a love for the sport he only recently discovered are the reasons Scott Ehlers is now a key member of the Manitoba team.

"Well, he's playing a ton for us right now," Pischke said. "He really wouldn't start for us, (because) our best player (Sdrolias) isn't playing for us right now. I can see Scott definitely starting for us next year the way he's come on."