Steven Kung of the University of Toronto Varsity Blues was named a first team all-star as the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) announced its major award winners and all-stars for men’s volleyball on Friday, February 26.
This is Kung’s third consecutive first team nod. The Toronto native was also named to the OUA all-rookie team in 2005-06. A two-time CIS all-Canadian, Kung led the OUA this season with an impressive 5.20 points and 4.58 kills per game.
The fifth-year leftside hitter led the Blues to a 10-10 regular season record and will look for his first career playoff win tonight as U of T travels to Kingston, Ont. for an OUA quarter-final match versus the Queen’s Gaels.
Eric Simon (London, Ont.) of the Western Mustangs is the player of the year. The fifth-year leftside led all OUA student-athletes with 32 service aces, an average of 0.63 per set. Simon was among the league leaders in several other categories, including 166 kills (3.25 per set), 23 blocks (0.45), 103 digs (2.02) and 217.5 points (4.26). He was a leader on a Mustangs team that finished third in the OUA standings with a 15-5 record, and is also a first-team all-star.
Western teammate Phil James (Ottawa) is the OUA rookie of the year. Playing middle, James earned 117 kills (1.80 per set), 23 service aces (0.35), 31 blocks (0.48), 33 digs (0.51) and 179 points (2.75). James also headlines the OUA all-rookie team.
Gabriel deGroot (Langley, B.C.) of the Guelph Gryphons is the 2010 libero of the year. The fifth-year player was third in OUA in total digs with 173 and was second in digs per set averaging 2.58. Guelph lost 28 sets all year, good for fourth-best in the league. This is the second straight season deGroot was named libero of the year. He is also a second-team all-star.
Fifth-year middle Aaron Dam (Grimsby, Ont.) of the Waterloo Warriors is the Dale Iwanocko Award winner, given for academics, athletics and community service. The four-time academic all-Canadian is currently working on his Master’s degree in kinesiology and also works as a teaching assistant. Dan volunteers as a peer mentor/tutor and spends a day a week at Hearty Hearts, a cardiac rehabilitation centre. A member of a church community group known as Serve, he recently traveled to several impoverished areas to rebuild schools an! d homes. Dam was second in all of OUA with 82 blocks and is also a second-team all-star.
Huub Kemmere of the Windsor Lancers is the OUA coach of the year – an award he last won in 2004. Kemmere led the Lancers to a 12-8 record, good for fourth in the standings and a playoff berth. This is a five-game improvement over Windsor’s 7-13 record in 2008-09. Kemmere has spent the past 11 seasons as a member of the Lancers coaching staff, first as an assistant and then head coach.
2010 OUA MEN'S VOLLEYBALL MAJOR AWARD WINNERS
Player of the Year: Eric Simon (Western)
Rookie of the Year: Phil James (Western)
Libero of the Year: Gabriel deGroot (Guelph)
Dale Iwanocko Award Winner: Aaron Dam (Waterloo)
Coach of the Year: Huub Kemmere (Windsor)
FIRST-TEAM ALL-STARS
Michael Amoroso (Toronto) - Queen's
Josh Edwards (Kingston, Ont.) - Windsor
Jeremy Groenveld (Welland, Ont.) - McMaster
Steven Kung (Toronto) - Toronto
Tyler Santoni (Kingston, Ont.) - McMaster
Eric Simon (London, Ont.) - Western
Joren Zeeman (Cambridge, Ont.) - Queen's
SECOND-TEAM ALL-STARS
Aaron Dam (Grimsby, Ont.) - Waterloo
Gabriel deGroot (Langley, B.C.) - Guelph
Greg Houston (Chatham, Ont.) - Laurier
Ryan Hudson (Winnipeg) - McMaster
Mathieu Poulin (Winnipeg) - Western
Winston Rosser (Whitby, Ont.) - Guelph
Jonathan Whitton (Edmonton) - Guelph
ALL-ROOKIE TEAM
Phil James (Ottawa) - Western
Ryan Le (Windsor, Ont.) - Windsor
Marvin Macalino (Aurora, Ont.) - York
Aleks Poldma (Toronto) - Waterloo
Harry Shannon (Whitby, Ont.) - Ryerson
Will Sidgwick (Toronto) - Queen's
Kevin Stevens (Winnipeg) - McMaster
– OUA –
