NEW WESTMINSTER, BC – Volleyball standouts Iuliia Pakhomenko (Thompson Rivers) and Brett Walsh (Alberta) were named Canada West First Stars of the Week for their dominant performances over the February 6-8 weekend.
Pakhomenko continued her stellar play during the WolfPack’s 3-2 victory over Saskatchewan last Friday night, when she set new conference single-match records with 38 points and 13 service aces. She finished the evening with 24 kills in 50 swings, with two assists, 12 digs and two block assists.
Walsh capped off his strong 2014-15 campaign over the weekend when he netted 113 assists, 19 digs, seven block assists and five kills to help sweep the Mount Royal Cougars and secure first place in the conference, in the process becoming the first player in Canada West history to record 1,000 assists or more in a single season.
Pakhomenko looks to have recovered her dominant form from last November when she garnered one First Star and two Second Star honours during the month.
Also honoured this week are Victoria’s Cassandra Goodis and MacEwan’s Kelly Fagan, each having enjoyed record nights in women’s basketball.
Volleyball stars Brad Gunter (Thompson Rivers) and Luke Herr (Manitoba) round out this week’s honourees for the men.
WOMEN.
First Star: #12 Iuliia Pakhomenko, Thompson Rivers (Volleyball)
Fourth-year Thompson Rivers University WolfPack volleyball outside hitter Iuliia Pakhomenko is the Canada West First Star of the Week following her impressive February 6-7 weekend.
The Donetsk, Ukraine native put her squad on her shoulders during the Friday night 3-2 win over the Saskatchewan Huskies with an incredible offensive performance, totalling a single-match conference record 38 points, besting the 31 points that UBC Thunderbirds’ Lisa Barclay set last season. The 6’3” Master’s Business student also added 24 kills in 50 swings, two assists, 12 digs and two block assists, while registering a conference-record 13 service aces, eclipsing Trinity Western’s Lies Verhoeff’s previous record of 10, set in November 2002.
On the following day, Pakhomenko was again dominant as the WolfPack captured their third consecutive win to finish the year at 10-14. She had 14 kills in 31 chances, one assist, one service ace and eight digs to close out her season.
She finished the year ranking second in the conference in kills per set (4.60), total kills (405) and service aces per set (44).
Second Star: #2 Cassandra Goodis, Victoria (Basketball)
The University of Victoria Vikes women’s basketball team improved to an 11-7 Canada West record after back-to-back road wins over the Brandon Bobcats on February 6 and 7. On both nights, fifth-year Vikes point guard Cassandra Goodis was the second-highest scorer but it was her passing that got her the much-deserved spotlight on the weekend.
Goodis logged four assists on February 6 and then eight the following night on February 7. Entering this weekend, the Penticton, B.C. native only needed seven assists to break the Canada West all-time assists record, previously held by Simon Fraser’s Lani Gibbons (539). With her 12 assists this weekend, Goodis now has 545 career assists and still has this coming weekend to add to it.
While Goodis has now ticked the box of breaking one Canada West record, she is also closing in on another Vikes record, as she current sits just three steals back of Lindsay Anderson's 269. Achieving that mark would also place Goodis second all-time for steals in Canada West.
Goodis will close out her last regular season games as a Vike this weekend, February 13-14, in a fitting “I heart McKinnon” night that will call all Vikes alumni back to the University of Victoria campus in celebration of the 40-year-old McKinnon Gym that will no longer be the home of the Vikes basketball program. Vikes Athletics and Recreation will be officially moving in to the Centre for Athletics, Recreation and Special Abilities (CARSA) as of the spring of 2015.
Third Star: #13 Kelly Fagan, MacEwan (Basketball)
Women’s basketball forward Kelly Fagan had an incredible weekend for the MacEwan University Griffins including tying one Canada West record and closing in on another.
Fagan led the Griffins to a weekend sweep of the UBCO Heat with a pair of double-double efforts. On Friday, the fourth-year forward had a career night, contributing 22 points and 20 rebounds. Of those 20 rebounds, 11 were offensive, tying for second in the Canada West single-game offensive rebounding records. Her breakthrough night was key, as the Griffins pulled out the single point victory and was named Player of the Game. The win also solidified the Griffins in second place in the Explorer Division heading into playoffs.
On Saturday, the Bachelor of Science major was again a key contributor with 12 points and 13 rebounds. Most notably, Fagan added six blocks to her four blocks from the night prior, pushing herself closer to the Canada West single-season record.
She will have two more opportunities to reach the milestone as the Griffins head to Mount Royal for a regular season doubleheader this weekend.
MEN.
First Star: #3 Brett Walsh, Alberta (Volleyball)
Third-year University of Alberta Golden Bears volleyball setter Brett Walsh is the Canada West First Star of the Week, following his performance over the February 6-7 weekend.
Walsh netted 113 assists, 19 digs, seven block assists, and five kills to help sweep the Mount Royal Cougars and secure first place in Canada West at the end of the regular season, becoming the first player in Canada West history to record 1,000 assists or more in a single season
The Business student-athlete scored 56 assists, nine digs, and four kills on the Friday night, breaking the previous conference record of 918 assists in a single season by Colin Carson of Thompson Rivers, en route to a five-set win.
On Saturday, Walsh tied a career-high with 57 assists in the match, surpassing the 1,000-assist plateau, to go with 10 digs and five block assists. Not done there, he chose quality over quantity in his other statistics, his one kill on the night a crowd-pleaser that put all the momentum behind Alberta in a comeback fourth set before he finished things off with a game-winning ace in the fifth and final set, securing the Bears’ regular season conference title.
The 6’5” setter completed the season first in CIS with an average of 10.97 assists/set, recording a total of 1,031 in 94 sets in 24 matches.
Due to their regular season title, the Bears earn a bye in the first round of the postseason, returning to action on the February 20-22 weekend when they host the Canada West Final Four.
Second Star: #5 Brad Gunter, Thompson Rivers (Volleyball)
Fourth-year outside hitter Brad Gunter was exceptional for the Thompson Rivers WolfPack men’s volleyball team over the weekend, producing 37 kills, seven service aces and 15 digs to lead his team to a road sweep versus Saskatchewan.
On Friday night’s 3-0 win, Gunter paced the WolfPack with 16 kills in 30 chances, one assist, three service aces and 10 digs. He followed this up on the next evening with 21 kills in 47 chances, four service aces, five digs and three block assists to secure the all-important sweep, allowing Thompson Rivers to clinch the seventh and final playoff spot.
The WolfPack opens their Canada West Quarterfinal Series at second-seed Trinity Western on Thursday at 8:00 pm PT.
Third Star: #2 Luke Herr, Manitoba (Volleyball)
In the final conference regular season matches of the 2014-15 men’s volleyball season, the seventh ranked Manitoba Bisons clinched the fourth spot in the conference with a road sweep of the MacEwan Griffins.
With the road match weekend sweep, Manitoba will now host a conference quarterfinal best-of-three series against ninth-ranked UBC Thunderbirds on the February 13-15 weekend.
In the crucial last two matches of the season, Bison setter Luke Herr controlled the visitors’ offence by distributing the ball to numerous Bison hitters and helping on offence with service aces, and on defence with blocks and digs.
Herr finished with 84 assists, nine digs, four total blocks, three service aces with 5.0 points while starting and playing all eight sets.
Manitoba started the weekend with a 3-1 win on Saturday, February 7 and the Winnipeg native had 38 assists (match-high) along with six digs, two total blocks, two service aces with 3.0 points. On the next afternoon, the Bisons won again 3-1 and the 6’4”, 185 lbs. setter added another 46 assists (match-high) with three digs, two blocks, one service ace and two points to complete the weekend.
Herr finished second in Canada West with 10.32 assists per set while starting and playing in all 24 conference matches.
The best-of-three MVB playoff series commences on Friday, February 13 with a special start time of 7 pm CT for game one then game two on Saturday, February 14 at 7 pm CT and, if necessary, game three will be play on Sunday, February 15 at 6 pm CT. All playoff contests will be played at the Investors Group Athletic Centre - IGAC (U of Manitoba campus).
Image Credit: Thompson Rivers WolfPack/Alberta Golden Bears