Men's volleyball Tigers claim AUS honours

Third-year UNB outside hitter Julio Fernandez was named the Atlantic University Sport most valuable player, Thursday.

Other AUS major award winners announced today were Dalhousie's Connor Maessen of Dartmouth, N.S., who was named rookie of the year; Memorial's Brad Jolliffe of Clarenville, Nfld., who was selected as the libero of the year; Dalhousie's Daniel You who received the Student-Athlete Community Service Award and Dalhousie head coach Dan Ota, who was named the AUS men's volleyball coach of the year.

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER: Julio Fernandez, UNB

Fernandez, a third-year outside hitter with the reigning AUS champion UNB Varsity Reds is the Atlantic University Sport men's volleyball most valuable player.

A native of Los Teques, Venezuela, Julio exploded on to the AUS volleyball scene last season as a sophomore and was a key member of the UNB squad that ended Dalhousie's 24-year run of Atlantic conference championships.

Fernandez, a 6-foot-3 junior, led the league this season in scoring (4.76 points per game - 2nd in CIS), total kills (256) and kills per game (4.20 - 2nd in CIS). He also ranked third in AUS hitting percentage (0.270), sixth in digs (2.00 per game), 8th in blocks (0.70 per game) and 8th in service aces (0.13 per game).

"Julio is having an outstanding year for us. He has consistently shown that he is not only one of the best in our conference, but amongst the best in the country," said UNB head coach Dan McMorran. "This is a well-deserved award and we are very proud of him."

Julio's selection as MVP marks the first time ever that a UNB player has been selected as AUS most valuable player in back-to-back years. UNB's Jacob Kilpatrick took home the honour in 2010-11.

No Atlantic conference player has ever been named CIS player of the year.

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Connor Maessen, Dalhousie

Maessen becomes the first Dalhousie Tigers player to be named the AUS rookie of the year since 2003-04 when Adam Hotchkiss was the recipient.

Connor dressed in all 17 regular season matches this season, appearing in 61 of Dalhousie's 64 sets played.

The 6-foot-10 first-year middle led Canadian Interuniversity Sport in both blocks (1.57 per game) and aces (0.51 per game) this season and he also finished sixth in AUS scoring, averaging 2.68 points per game.

"Connor had an impressive season for us as a rookie and I believe that he has only scratched the surface as far as his potential," said Dalhousie head coach Dan Ota. "He has improved steadily since the beginning of the year and continues to improve as we enter the most important time of our season."

The only Atlantic University Sport player to ever be named CIS rookie of the year was Dalhousie's Terry Martin in 1994-95.

LIBERO OF THE YEAR: Brad Jolliffe, Memorial

Jolliffe, a third-year student-athlete from Clarenville, Nfld., is the second Memorial player to be named the conference's top libero since the award was established in 1999-00. He joins Paul Easton as the only Sea-Hawks players to win the award. Easton was selected the libero of the year in 2008-09.

Brad led the Sea-Hawks this season with 4.23 digs per game, ranking him second in the Atlantic conference.

"Brad's performance this year has been outstanding. He helped bring stability with a consistent serve receive and he brought organization and leadership to our defence," said Memorial head coach Luke Harris. "He has also spear-headed our community involvement efforts off the court, which we are very proud of. The hard work he put in to elevate his game to the next level has been reflected in his improvement from last season."

Former Dalhousie Tigers libero Jeff Weiler is also the only Atlantic University Sport player to have been named the CIS libero of the year, taking home the nation's top prize four years in a row, from 2003-04 to 2006-07.

COACH OF THE YEAR: Dan Ota, Dalhousie

Dan Ota, in his 13th year as head coach of the Tigers program, has now been selected by his peers as the AUS coach of the year for the tenth time.

This year, Dan guided the Tigers to a first place finish in the Atlantic conference standings with a record of 12-5, including only one loss versus Atlantic conference opponents. Dalhousie's only other losses came at the hands of Laval and Montreal in interlock play, including three losses to the undefeated, CIS No. 3-ranked Rouge et Or.

The Tigers will look recapture the AUS championship banner this weekend, which they had won 24 consecutive years prior to last season's loss to the UNB Varsity Reds.

Ota, a native of Calgary, Alta., is a former executive director of Volleyball Nova Scotia, a former technical director for Alberta Volleyball and was a member of the Team Canada coaching staff at the 2007 Summer Universiade in Bangkok, Thailand that captured a silver medal.

He holds Bachelor of Arts and Master of Kinesiology degrees from the University of Calgary and is a certified NCCP Level 3 coach as well as a Master Learning Facilitator.

"We are very proud of what Dan has accomplished over his career at Dalhousie. His teams are consistently strong and show steady development through their season," said Karen Moore, Director of Athletics at Dalhousie. "He is one of the country's top coaches and this year in particular, he has worked hard to maintain a high level of play despite many challenges due to injuries."

The last Atlantic conference head coach to be named CIS Coach of the Year was Dan McMorran of UNB following the 2010-11 season.

STUDENT-ATHLETE COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARD: Daniel You, Dalhousie

The 2011-12 recipient of the AUS student-athlete community service award and nominee for the CIS Dale Iwanoczko award is Daniel You of the Dalhousie Tigers. The nominee for this award is a player exhibiting outstanding achievement in volleyball, academics and community involvement.

You, a 6-foot-7 middle blocker in his fourth year of eligibility, ranked second in AUS blocking this season with 1.10 per game. He also finished in the top 10 in AUS scoring (2.29 points per game) and kills (1.55 per game) and was selected by the coaches as a conference all-star for the first time in his career.

A native of Calgary, Alta., Daniel has already been recognized as the Atlantic conference's top Academic All-Canadian, is the Dalhousie nominee for the prestigious James Bayer Memorial Scholarship Award and last season was selected to represent the conference as a Top Eight CIS Academic All-Canadian.

A biology student who hopes to pursue a career in medicine, You has a cumulative grade point average of 4.25 out of 4.3 since he arrived on the Halifax campus including a perfect 4.3 in 2010-11. Already a three-time Academic All-Canadian and Dean's List member, he earned a number of academic distinctions including the Biology Department Scholarship, the Dalhousie University President's Award and the Best Summer Student Scientific Abstract Award.

In the community, You volunteers weekly as a clinic assistant at the Halifax IWK Orthopedic Clinic, is a tutor for first year Dalhousie students through Students Offering Support (SOS), is a member of League of Volunteers Extraordinaire (LOVE) in Calgary and volunteered at various Kidsport events this past summer, also in his Alberta hometown. He also shares his passion for his sport as a coach with the Tigers Volleyball Club in Halifax and the Elite West Volleyball Club in Calgary, and is the men's volleyball representative on the Dalhousie Varsity Sport Council.

"Daniel exemplifies everything that we value in our program. He has demonstrated a commitment to excellence in all aspects of student-athlete life - academics, sport and being a leader in the community," said Dalhousie head coach Dan Ota. "I am most proud of how he has been able to find balance in all of those things, and he will be sorely missed when he graduates after this season."

The CIS Dale Iwanoczko award has been awarded to a number of AUS men's volleyball athletes in recent years. UNB's Jacob Kilpatrick (2010-11), Dalhousie's Nik Rademacher (2007-08), Jeff Weiler (2005-06), Chris Geddes (2002-03) and Paul Villeneuve (1993-94) are all previous recipients of the prestigious CIS award.

2011-12 AUS MEN'S VOLLEYBALL ALL-STAR TEAM

The 2011-12 Atlantic University Sport men's volleyball all-stars were also announced Thursday.

All-Star Team:
Julio Fernandez, UNB (3rd year - Los Teques, Venezuela)
Kenneth Rauwerda, Dalhousie (4th year - Calgary, Alta.)
Graeme Higgins, Dalhousie (5th year - Scarborough, Ont.)
John Sheehan, UNB (5th year - New Maryland, N.B.)
Daniel You, Dalhousie (4th year - Calgary, Alta.)
Andrew Stephens, Memorial (4th year, Lower Sackville, N.S.)

The 2012 Subway Atlantic University Sport men's volleyball championship is a best two-of-three series between the Dalhousie Tigers (12-5) and UNB Varsity Reds (11-6), and begins this Friday at Dalhousie University in Halifax, N.S.

The championship schedule is as follows:

Friday, February 17th
- Game 1: UNB at Dalhousie, 7:00pm
(Webcast at www.ssncanada.ca/games/)

Sunday, February 19th
- Game 2: Dalhousie at UNB, 2:00pm
(Webcast at http://playerv2.streamit.ca/PlayerV2.aspx?eventid=66)

Saturday, February 25th
- Game 3: UNB at Dalhousie, 7:00pm*
(Webcast at www.ssncanada.ca/games/)
(*if necessary)

For further information, please visit www.atlanticuniversitysport.com, or contact:

John Keefe
Communications Manager
Atlantic University Sport
P: 902 425 4235
E: jkeefe@atlanticuniversitysport.com
W: www.atlanticuniversitysport.com