CANADA WEST - Canada West announces the 2010-11 men’s volleyball individual award winners and All-Stars, as selected by 10 head coaches conference-wide.
A year after winning the CIS title and earning national championship MVP honours, fourth-year Calgary Dinos middle Graham Vigrass is the 2010-11 Canada West MVP.
Vigrass had an outstanding season, leading the Dinos to a 16-2 record and their second straight appearance at the national tournament. He finished the season second in the conference in hitting percentage (.397), third in kills (3.94/set) and fourth in total blocks. The 21-year-old Science student moved back to the middle this season after transitioning to the right side last year and was heavily featured in the Calgary offence, recording kills from every position on the floor.
Vigrass is a fourth-year Faculty of Science student at the University of Calgary.
“Graham’s play this season has been outstanding,” said fifth-year Dinos coach Rod Durrant. “He has developed into an all-round player in the front row and the back of the court. He leads by example and is a huge part of our team’s success this season.”
In his first year at Manitoba, Rookie of the Year Chris Komishon played setter and the Bisons did not miss a beat with a new ‘quarterback’ at the position. He was sixth in conference, with 8.52 assists per set, and fifth in Canada West in assists, with 571. He added 28 kills, with 106 digs, 40 overall blocks and 11 service aces, starting in all 18 regular season matches.
Bisons head coach Garth Pischke commented, “He played quite well with lots of pressure. Being a setter is a tough position, especially when you are a rookie, and Chris dealt with the expectations and delivered a great season.”
Now a four-time Canada West Libero of the Year award winner, UBC’s Blair Bann capped off a stellar five year T-Bird career in style this season, setting a conference record for digs, with 283 over only 18 matches. His 3.72 digs per set in 2010-11 rank second all-time in CW history, just behind his 3.76 average from last season. Bann, a Human Kinetics major from Edmonton, owns the conference career record with 1018 digs, 280 more than his nearest rival, and a 2.66 digs per set average. He also has the incredible streak of playing in every set during his five years at UBC, is a three-time Canada West All-Star and was a CIS All-Rookie team selection back in 2006-07. He has won two CIS Libero of the Year awards during his career, will be a finalist for a possible third, and is a member of the Senior National Team program.
“Blair has been our most consistent performer all year. He brought his best each and every day, which made others around him better, and he is a positive role model for our sport which makes him an extremely special kind of player, teammate, and person,” said UBC head coach Richard Schick
Trinity Western outside/middle hitter Rudy Verhoeff has been named the Canada West nominee for the Dale Iwanoczko Award as top student-athlete. The fourth-year Religious Studies student has been one of the top offensive threats in the Canada West. He was fourth in CW kills per set (3.91), fourth in points (4.69/set) and 10th in blocks (1.04/set).
However, it his leadership and work off of the court that sets him apart. In addition to his work on the court Verhoeff has been working with 12-14 athletes for the past four years as a volunteer coach with the Fraser Volleyball Club, is a Big Brother, leads the Spartans team in small group study and is a member of the TWU’s Student Athlete Leadership Team (SALT), which plans events, co-ordinates leadership opportunities among the teams and assists with leadership development programs.
“Rudy exemplifies everything you want your athletes to strive to be. He is a fantastic leader on our team. He is a great teammate, friend, student, athlete and man of God,” commented TWU head coach Ben Josephson. “His example is a great one for all of our athletes and students alike at TWU. He is a role model for our school, team and for me personally.”
In his fifth year at the helm of the Dinos men’s volleyball program, Calgary head coach Rod Durrant has been voted 2010-11 Coach of the Year by his peers.
After taking over a team that finished 4-14 in his first season, Durrant has quickly rebuilt the Dinos into a national powerhouse. His team’s record has improved every year, culminating in the 2010 CIS championship title – the school’s first since 1993 and fourth overall. This season the Dinos wrapped up their third straight second-place finish with a 16-2 record and went undefeated into the final weekend of the season. The defending champs lost just 16 sets in 18 matches and have qualified for CIS Nationals once again.
“I congratulate Rod on this outstanding accomplishment,” said Dr. Wayne Giles, Dean of Kinesiology at the University of Calgary. “He has quickly re-established Dinos men’s volleyball as one of the top programs in Canada, and our team consistently performs at a high level under his direction.”
Members of the 2010-11 All-Star team include Vigrass, Bann, Verhoeff, 2010 CIS Player of the Year Paul Sanderson (Brandon), 2010 CIS Rookie of the Year Kevin Tillie (Thompson Rivers) and Manitoba’s Chris Voth, 2009 CIS Rookie of the Year.
Following is a breakdown of all individual award winners and All-Stars:
AWARDS
MVP: Graham Vigrass, Calgary
Rookie of the Year: Chris Komishon, Manitoba
Libero of the Year: Blair Bann, UBC
Dale Iwanoczko Student-Athlete Award nominee: Rudy Verhoeff, Trinity Western
Coach of the Year: Rod Durrant, Calgary
ALL-STARS
First Team Second Team
Graham Vigrass, Calgary Blair Bann, UBC
Paul Sanderson, Brandon Chris Voth, Manitoba
Tanner Nault, Alberta Jay Olmstead, Alberta
Rudy Verhoeff, Trinity Western Ben Ball, Trinity Western
Kevin Tillie, Thompson Rivers Spencer Leiske, Alberta
Jay Blankenau, Calgary Jonathan Sloane, Brandon
Major award are now considered for national awards, to be handed out by Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) at the 2011 national championship, hosted March 4-6 in Langley, B.C. by Trinity Western University.
The Canada West Final Four event takes place this Friday and Saturday at Alberta in Edmonton, where the CIS #2 ranked Golden Bears play Brandon in the semifinals, followed by Trinity Western vs. Calgary. The conference final commences at 8:00 p.m. MT on Saturday, though all four participating schools have already qualified for CIS Nationals.
About Canada West Universities Athletic Association
Canada West is consistently the most decorated of the four conferences in Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS), winning at least 10 CIS national titles every year since 1997-98. Comprised of 14 schools, from the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia, Canada West produces numerous major award winners and Academic All-Canadian student-athletes each year, with many going on to athletic success around the globe in pro leagues or events such as the Olympics, Paralympics or Universiade Games. “cwuaa” on Twitter.
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