Varsity Blues leftside hitter Heather Bansley has been named a second team all-Canadian as the CIS announced women’s volleyball major award winners on Wednesday, February 25th.

The Waterdown, Ont. native finished the season ranked first in the OUA and second in the CIS, averaging 5.40 points per game. In addition, Bansley also finished first in the OUA in kills per game (4.27) and second in serving aces per game (0.90) during the regular season.

A fourth-year arts and science student, Bansley is a three-time OUA all-star with this being her first all-Canadian recognition.

For the second straight season, fourth-year Montreal power hitter Laetitia Tchoualack (Paris, France) is the Canadian Interuniversity Sport women's volleyball player of the year.

Tchoualack became the seventh player to claim back-to-back Mary Lyons awards and is the eighth double recipient since the trophy was first presented in 1981-82. The last player to be named CIS MVP in consecutive campaigns was Calgary's Joanna Niemczewska, who was honoured in 2003-04 and 2004-05.

Other CIS major award winners announced Wednesday night in Fredericton were Alberta's Kelci French (Okotoks, Alta.) who received the Mark Tennant award as rookie of the year, Western Ontario's Andrea Ruste (Edmonton, Alta.) named the top libero in the nation, Montreal's Olivier Trudel, who earned coach-of-the-year honours, and UBC's Katie Tyzuk (Vancouver, B.C.), who received the Thérèse Quigley award recognizing excellence in volleyball, academics and community involvement.

The 2009 CIS women's volleyball championship, hosted by the University of New Brunswick, gets under way Thursday with the quarterfinal round and concludes Saturday at 7 p.m. Atlantic Time (6 p.m. Eastern) with the gold-medal final.

Tchoualack is one of the most decorated female volleyball players in CIS history. The Masters in management student has been named Quebec conference MVP three years running, and her selection on the 2008-09 first all-Canadian team marks her fourth nod as a CIS all-star in as many seasons at Montreal, including three consecutive nominations to the first squad. Last April, a few weeks after leading the Carabins to the best result in program history at the CIS championship, a silver-medal finish, the 5-foot-11 hitter received the prestigious BLG award as CIS female athlete of the year.

French is only the second Panda to claim the Tennant award. Former Alberta great Jenny Cartmell was named CIS rookie of the year in 1995-96 before capturing back-to-back Mary Lyons awards later on in her career.

French, a native studies student, was recruited out of Foothills Composite High School in Okotoks as a natural setter but, knowing fifth-year senior Daryll Roper would be her starter at the position, long-time Alberta coach Laurie Eisler converted the 19-year-old freshman to the right side, where she found instant success in the most competitive conference in the country.

Ruste became the first player from the OUA conference to be named CIS libero of the year since the inception of the award in 2005-06.

The fourth-year Mustang team captain has been a defensive machine her entire university career. A three-time OUA West all-star and OUA West libero of the year, Ruste led the nation in digs per set for the second time this season with a 5.24 average. She also ranked first in the country in 2006-07 (5.74), and finished third last season (5.11).

Trudel is the first Montreal coach to be honoured at the CIS level and the first bench boss from the Quebec conference to receive the coach-of-the-year award since Sherbrooke's Normand Bouchard in 2000-01.

In his fifth season at the helm, he led the Carabins to the best conference record in team history (20-1), a second straight QSSF title, a 32-1 overall mark against CIS opponents, and first place in all 13 national coaches polls. Montreal also successfully defended its titles at the Carabins Invitational, McGill Invitational and Barbados International Invitational tournaments.

Tyzuk is the fourth Thunderbird to receive the Thérèse Quigley award for excellence in volleyball, academics and community involvement since it was first presented in 1993-94, and the first UBC recipient since Emily Cordonier in 2004-05.

The fourth-year T-Bird took over the role of setter this season after the departure of 2007-08 Canada West MVP Carla Bradstock and helped direct a UBC offence that ranked fourth in the conference in kills with an average of 12.73 per game. She ranked sixth in Canada West in assists (9.55 per contest) and was one of only three T-Birds to play in all 73 regular-season sets this season.

Tyzuk, whose parents are both Rhodes Scholars and attended Oxford, is a former recipient of UBC's President's Entrance Award and Chancellor's Entrance Scholarship. A biopsychology student, she was an academic all-Canadian and a member of the Dean's List each of her first three years at UBC, and received the 2008 UBC CK Choi Premier Undergraduate Scholarship.

Tyzuk has been involved with the Big Brothers / Big Sisters program for the past two years, has been an Emergency Room volunteer at the Vancouver General Hospital for a year and has worked as a volunteer coach for the Thunder Volleyball Club. Through UBC Athletics, she has been part of the "I'm Going to UBC" program, was a UBC Varsity Reader and was the volleyball team representative on the UBC Thunderbird Athletic Council.

The All-Canadian teams were also announced on Wednesday.

2008-09 CIS WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL AWARDS & ALL-CANADIANS

Mary Lyons Award (player of the year): Laetitia Tchoualack, Montreal Carabins

Mark Tennant Award (rookie of the year): Kelci French, Alberta Pandas

Libero of the year: Andrea Ruste, Western Ontario Mustangs

Coach of the year: Olivier Trudel, Montreal Carabins

Thérèse Quigley Award (outstanding student-athlete): Katie Tyzuk, UBC Thunderbirds

Name	Position	University
Laetitia Tchoualack	Power	Montreal
Nadine Alphonse	Middle	Montreal
Jocelyn Blair	Power	Alberta
Holly Harper	Right	Calgary
Jennifer Holt	Setter	McMaster
Dayna Jansen Van Doorn	Middle	Trinity Western
Daryll Roper	Setter	Alberta

Name	Position	University
Heather Bansley	Left	Toronto
Marisa Field	Middle	UBC
Kristine Levesque	Middle	Moncton
Sarah Morrissette	Left	Manitoba
Julie Rodrigue	Middle	Laval
Kerri Smit	Left	Saint Mary’s
Jennifer Thomson	Power	McGill

Name	Position	University
Kelci French	Setter/Right	Alberta
Emily Kyte	Technique	McGill
Sarah Létourneau-Lévesque	Setter	Laval
Shanice Marcelle	Left	UBC
Katherine Ryan	Left	St. FX
Ariel Smith	Right/Left	Winnipeg
Thinesa Sriskandarajah	Left	York