TORONTO - Conestoga College's Wesley Lau (Woodstock) was named the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) Men's Volleyball Player of the Year in a ceremony held in Toronto on Wednesday evening as part of the 2019 OCAA Men's Volleyball Championship presented by belairdirect.
Lau was the OCAA West Division Scoring Champion averaging 5.1 points per set in 16 regular season matches. The fifth-year left side led all West Division players with 222 kills and 266 points. He also surpassed the 1,000 career-point mark in his final OCAA season. Lau is also a Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) All-Canadian, as well as an OCAA West Division First-Team All-Star.
Michel Leblanc (St. Isidore) of La Cité is also a CCAA All-Canadian. The fourth-year outside hitter was an East Division co-Scoring Champion averaging 4.4 points per set. He led all OCAA players with 230 kills and was second with 284 points during the regular season. Leblanc is an OCAA East Division First-Team All-Star.
Seneca's Savino Marques (Richmond Hill) is the OCAA Rookie of the Year. The setter was second among all OCAA players averaging 9.02 assists per set and 577 total assists. Also named the OCAA East Division Rookie of the Year, Marques headlines the OCAA East Division All-Rookie Team and is a member of the East Division First-Team All-Stars.
OCAA West Division Coach of the Year Wayne Harris of Conestoga is the OCAA nominee for CCAA Coach of the Year. Conestoga flipped its record from 8-10 to 10-8 this season, good for fifth place in a competitive West Division. The Condors narrowly missed a couple of extra victories, taking Humber and Niagara, both teams ahead of Conestoga in the standings, to five sets.
The East Division co-Scoring Champion was Nicolas Pirnat (Embrum) of La Cité. Along with his teammate Leblanc, the fourth-year outside hitter averaged 4.4 points per set. He led all OCAA players with 286 points and was third with 223 kills. Leblanc and Pirnat are two key reasons why La Cité improved to 15-3 from 8-10 last season.
Humber's Rafael Hilario (Brazil) is the West Division Rookie of the Year. The outside hitter was sixth among OCAA players averaging 3.27 kills per set, and seventh averaging 3.8 points per set. Hilario headlines the OCAA West Division All-Rookie Team and is a member of the West Division First-Team All-Stars.
Seneca's Brian Singh is the OCAA East Division Coach of the Year. Under his leadership, the Sting went from 5-13 last season to 14-4 in 2018-19, including wins over East Division champion Georgian and runner-up La Cité.
In addition to Lau and Hilario, OCAA West Division First-Team All-Stars include Zach Albert (Brampton), Sebastian Lethbridge (London) and Mike Liscumb (Ilderton) of Fanshawe; Andrew Blakey (Collingwood) of Humber; and Liam Butchereit (Mississauga) of Sheridan.
Joining Leblanc, Pirnat and Marques as OCAA East Division First-Team All-Stars are Jarrod McNaughton (Ottawa) of Algonquin; Darien Haynes (Barrie) of Georgian; and Richard Ngo (North York) and Malik Welsh (Maple) of Seneca.
The OCAA West Division Second-Team All-Stars include Ryan Clutton (Waterloo) of Conestoga; David Gundrum (Port Elgin) and Mitch McFadden (St. Pauls) of Fanshawe; Elijah Lopez (St. Catharines) of Mohawk; and Linden Bontkes (Langley, B.C.), Noah Bouius (Hanover) and Brayden Stoffers (Frankford) of Redeemer.
Named OCAA East Division Second-Team All-Stars are Thomas Cullingworth (Ottawa) of Algonquin; Drake Stevenson (Atikokan) of Canadore; Jaydeep Patel (India) of Centennial; Vivek Mathimakki (Toronto) of George Brown; Liam Gray (Barrie) and Jordi Romero (Brampton) of Georgian; and Toms Gaikis (Latvia) of Seneca.
Joining Marques on the OCAA East Division All-Rookie Team are Javed Baksh (Mississauga) of Centennial; James Hirt (Scarborough) of Durham; Bowen Mitton (Australia) of Georgian; and Trevor Fortier (Brockville) and Caleb Seguin (Pickering) of Loyalist.
Hilario's teammates on the OCAA East Division All-Rookie Team are Brendan Vandergeest (Kitchener) of Conestoga; James Pratt (Uxbridge) of Fanshawe; Micah Nieuwets (St. Catharines) of Niagara; and Jason Wildeboer (Bowmanville) and William Winkelhorst (Newcastle) of Redeemer.
2018-19 OCAA MEN'S VOLLEYBALL MAJOR AWARDS
OCAA Men's Volleyball Player of the Year
Wesley Lau, Conestoga
CCAA Men's Volleyball All-Canadians
Wesley Lau, Conestoga
Michel Leblanc, La Cité
OCAA Men's Volleyball Rookie of the Year
Savino Marques, Seneca
CCAA Men's Volleyball Coach of the Year Nominee
Wayne Harris, Conestoga
OCAA Men's Volleyball East Division Scoring Champions
Michel Leblanc, La Cité
Nicolas Pirnat, La Cité
OCAA Men's Volleyball West Division Scoring Champion
Wesley Lau, Conestoga
OCAA Men's Volleyball East Division Rookie of the Year
Savino Marques, Seneca
OCAA Men's Volleyball West Division Rookie of the Year
Rafael Hilario, Humber
OCAA Men's Volleyball East Division Coach of the Year
Brian Singh, Seneca
OCAA Men's Volleyball West Division Coach of the Year
Wayne Harris, Conestoga
OCAA Men's Volleyball East Division Champions
Georgian Grizzlies
OCAA Men's Volleyball West Division Champions
Fanshawe Falcons
OCAA Men's Volleyball East Division First-Team All-Stars
Darien Haynes, Georgian
Michel Leblanc, La Cité
Savino Marques, Seneca
Jarrod McNaughton, Algonquin
Richard Ngo, Seneca
Nicolas Pirnat, La Cité
Malik Welsh, Seneca
OCAA Men's Volleyball East Division Second-Team All-Stars
Thomas Cullingworth, Algonquin
Toms Gaikis, Seneca
Liam Gray, Georgian
Vivek Mathimakki, George Brown
Jaydeep Patel, Centennial
Jordi Romero, Georgian
Drake Stevenson, Canadore
OCAA Men's Volleyball West Division First-Team All-Stars
Zach Albert, Fanshawe
Andrew Blakey, Humber
Liam Butchereit, Sheridan
Rafael Hilario, Humber
Wesley Lau, Conestoga
Sebastian Lethbridge, Fanshawe
Mike Liscumb, Fanshawe
OCAA Men's Volleyball West Division Second-Team All-Stars
Linden Bontkes, Redeemer
Noah Bouius, Redeemer
Ryan Clutton, Conestoga
David Gundrum, Fanshawe
Elijah Lopez, Mohawk
Mitch McFadden, Fanshawe
Brayden Stoffers, Redeemer
OCAA Men's Volleyball OCAA East All-Rookie Team
Javed Baksh, Centennial
Trevor Fortier, Loyalist
James Hirt, Durham
Savino Marques, Seneca
Bowen Mitton, Georgian
Caleb Seguin, Loyalist
OCAA Men's Volleyball OCAA West All-Rookie Team
Rafael Hilario, Humber
Micah Nieuwets, Niagara
James Pratt, Fanshawe
Brendan Vandergeest, Conestoga
Jason Wildeboer, Redeemer
William Winkelhorst, Redeemer
- OCAA -
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