Ukrainian named top CIS player

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/03/2016 (3671 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

One of the most soft-spoken players in Canadian Interuniversity Sport women’s volleyball was recognized with its most prestigious award at the Victoria Inn on Thursday morning.

Thompson Rivers WolfPack left side Iuliia Pakhomenko led the country in kills per set (4.67), total kills (425), points per set (5.5), total points (496.5) and service aces (50) and was named the Mary Lyons Award winner for player of the year.

“It’s pretty special. I’m really thankful to be nominated and get this award,” said Pakhomenko, who’s in her fourth year of eligibility. “It’s a big honour for me because I’ve never had something like this in my volleyball life, so I’m pretty happy.”

The six-foot-three Druzhkivka, Ukraine product helped lead the WolfPack to a 12-12 regular-season record and a spot in the Canada West conference playoffs before dropping the best-of-three quarter-final series to the Trinity Western University Spartans.

Pakhomenko, who is in the masters of business program at TRU, has also emerged as a leader for the WolfPack — 0-22 in the two seasons before her arrival — in just two seasons. She arrived in Kamloops, B.C., after spending two seasons with NCAA Division II Northwood University in Midland, Mich.

“I think it’s getting more prominent as far as when she came everything was new and school was new and she didn’t know any of the people and so for her to take some time to build some of those relationships,” said TRU head coach Chad Grimm, who was also in the Wheat City.

“She’s getting more comfortable with schooling and teammates and surroundings and willing to take on more of that leadership role as far as someone that can help vocally on and off the court, instead of just focus on the court.”

Pakhomenko admitted she doesn’t see herself as a leader, but her on-court product speaks volumes about her leadership.

Steve Manuel’s leadership is unquestionable. The UBC Okanagan Heat head coach led his team to a 22-2 record in Canada West play this season and its first trip to the national championship. The Heat fell 3-2 (25-19, 18-25, 25-18, 23-25, 15-10) to TWU in the conference final, but were ranked No. 1 in the country most of the season and enter Friday’s quarter-final match against the Dalhousie Tigers seeded third.

Last week Manuel received Canada West coach of the year honours for the second time, but on Thursday he took home the Marilyn Pomfret Award as CIS coach of the year.

“It’s a huge honour for me, and I think I mentioned it at the banquet just the number of great coaches that are currently or formerly in CIS,” Manuel said. “To be recognized with them, it’s very humbling but it’s a great honour.”

He commended his seniors, who have been with the program for all or most of the five years UBCO has been a CIS member.

“It’s the first time that we’ve had players on our team that have played four or five years at CIS. So what’s been difficult is those players haven’t been mentored by other CIS players, so they’ve had to figure things out on their own every step of the way,” Manuel said.

“To see that evolution and to see their growth is quite something.”

While his focus is on the Tigers and the rest of the weekend, Manuel expects the award will sink in after the fact.

“It’s something that will always be there. To be able to look on the CIS website or look in a program in future years and see my name listed with the Mark Tennants and the Laurie Eislers, Kristine Drakich, Rachèle Béliveau, the Doug Reimers and all of those names, to me that’s the big, big honour,” Manuel said.

Other CIS award winners included Toronto Varsity Blues’ right side Alina Dormann, who captured the Mark Tennant Award as CIS rookie of the year, and Acadia Axewoman outside hitter Sarah Ross, who took home the Thérèse Quigley Award for superior volleyball, academic and community service performance.

Pakhomenko was also named a first-team all-Canadian. Dormann was the only freshman named a second-team All-Canadian.

Tennant, who presented the rookie of the year award, was also recognized Thursday for his outstanding contributions to volleyball. A 2012 inductee into the Volleyball Canada’s Hall of Fame, Tennant led the Saskatchewan Huskies to consecutive national titles from 1979 to 1981 and was named CIS coach of the year four times.

Over the years Tennant also contributed his technical expertise to the sport’s development at the national and international level, working on committees with FISU (World University Games), the FIVB and NORCECA.

» nliewicki@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @liewicks

 

AWARD WINNERS:

• MARY LYONS AWARD (player of the year): Iuliia Pakhomenko, Thompson Rivers

• MARK TENNANT AWARD (rookie of the year): Alina Dormann, Toronto

• MARILYN POMFRET AWARD (TIMEX coach of the year): Steve Manuel, UBC Okanagan

• THÉRÈSE QUIGLEY AWARD (volleyball, academics & community service): Sarah Ross, Acadia

• ALL-CANADIAN TEAMS

— First Team

Iuliia Pakhomenko – Thompson Rivers; Meg Casault – Alberta; Kelsey Veltman – Western; Katie Wuttunee – UBC Okanagan; Nikki Cornwall – Trinity Western; Elly Wendel – Trinity Western; Jessie Niles – Alberta.

— Second Team

Marie-Alex Bélanger – Montreal; Sophie Carpentier – Trinity Western; Myriam Robitaille – McGill; Katelyn Devaney – Trinity Western; Yasmeen Dawoodjee McGill; Alina Dormann – Toronto; Hillary Monette – Acadia.

— All-Rookie Team

Alina Dormann – Toronto; Kierstin Fey – Memorial; Courtney Baker – Dalhousie; Michelle Chelladurai – McMaster; Carolina Alongi – Mount Royal; Rowyn Neufeld – Trinity Western; Sarah-Jeanne Meunier – Bédard Sherbrooke.