Raya Surinx named U SPORTS women’s volleyball player of the year

Raya Surinx of the Manitoba Bisons has been named the winner of the Mary Lyons Award as the player of the year in U SPORTS women’s volleyball. The announcement was made on Thursday night at the All-Canadian Award Ceremony in Hamilton, site of the 2024 championship tournament.

Other major award winners include Abby Guezen of Alberta, who won the Mark Tennant as rookie of the year; Madison Hann of Saskatchewan, who took home the Thérèse Quigley award (student-athlete community service); and Michelle Wood of Acadia, who won the Marilyn Pomfret Award as the Fox40 Coach of the Year.

The 2024 U SPORTS Women’s Volleyball Championship gets underway on Friday at the Burridge Gym on the McMaster University campus. Play continues through to the gold medal game, which is set for 6 p.m. on Sunday.

View the official championship website.

Mary Lyons Award (outstanding player of the year): Raya Surinx, Manitoba

In just her second season of eligibility, outside hitter Raya Surinx has earned the Mary Lyons Award as the player of the year in U SPORTS Women’s Volleyball. Surinx became the first Bison to receive this honour since Rachel Cockrell in 2015, and the sixth Bison overall, following Kathy Preston (2002), Louise Wlock (1998), Loriann Sawatzky (1995) and Michelle Sawatzky (1991 and 1992).

Surinx was dominant in 2023-24, leading the nation in kills with 388 – 70 more than anyone else – despite missing the last two games of league play. She also led the country with 4.85 kills per set, and her 40 aces were sixth in the nation, helping Manitoba to a regular season program record of 20 wins.

Surinx’s 388 kills are the eighth most in a Canada West season, and the second most by a Bison in the rally scoring era (Cockrell had 471 in 2014-15). Her kills per set average is also the second-most in a season in the rally scoring era, just behind Cockrell (5.06).

In just two years, Surinx’s 84 career regular season aces are already the second-most in Bisons history in the rally scoring era and 18th all-time in school history. Meanwhile, her 671 career kills place her 20^th all-time in school history.

Other nominees: Olivia Bell (Saint Mary’s), Olympe Desmet (Montréal), Sara Rohr (Brock)

Mark Tennant Award (rookie of the year): Abby Guezen, Alberta

Making a profound impact in leading the young Alberta Pandas to an 18-6 record, first-year outside Abby Guezen has been named the winner of the Mark Tennant award as the U SPORTS Rookie of the Year. Guezen finished her debut season with 184 kills, 122 digs, 27 blocks and 218.0 points. Her 2.97 kills per set ranked 10^th in Canada West, and was far and away the best by any rookie in 2023/24.

Her 184 kills were third on the Pandas, with her 2.97 kills per set ranking second only to second team All-Canadian Lauryn Tremblay’s 3.32. Guezen played a large role in the Pandas’ eight-game improvement from the year before and fifth-place finish in Canada West.

Guezen is the third Panda to win the Mark Tennant Award, following Kelci French (2009) and Jenny Cartmell (1996).

Other nominees: Talia Nixon (UNB), Britanie Maranda (Sherbrooke), Olivia Julien (McMaster)

Thérèse Quigley Award (student-athlete community service): Madison Hann, Saint Mary’s

Saint Mary’s Huskies middle Madison Hann is the 2023-24 recipient of the Thérèse Quigley Award, given to a women’s volleyball student-athlete who shows outstanding achievements in three areas: volleyball, academics and community involvement.

A third-year Criminology student from Conquerall Mills, N.S., Hann placed second on her team in total blocks (45) and third in service aces (21). In the classroom, the L’nu student-athlete has held a GPA over 4.15 for three years running, earning Academic All-Canadian and SMU Faculty of Arts Dean’s List status her first two seasons.

In the community, Hann has been just as impressive.

Whether it was volunteering as manager/coach/guardian with the Mi’kmaw Nova Scotia U19 women’s volleyball team for the 2023 North American Indigenous Games or participating in the MotionballU Marathon of Sport event hosted at SMU to raise funds and awareness for Special Olympics, Hann has been more than willing to take on whatever task was needed.

Hann continues to be committed to supporting and advocating for the rights and ongoing issues that people within the Indigenous community face. For the second year in a row, she organized the purchase of orange t-shirts from the local Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre to show support for residential school survivors. This year, she used her own traditional teachings to personally bead more than 20 Every Child Matters pins (over 100 hours of work) to raise $670 – all of which she donated to the Indian Residential School Survivors Society.

Additionally, she will once again participate in the annual Kjipuktuk March for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two Spirit Persons and Relatives. Hann is a member of both the Saint Mary’s University Indigenous Students Society and the Racialized Student Academic Network.

She also is an attendee to the 7^th Step Society street group meetings, where community members ranging from past and current offenders to workers within the criminal justice system, community volunteers and more come together weekly to reflect and discuss various life topics in order to improve themselves.

Other nominees: Brook Brown (McGill), Avery Kelly (Waterloo), Taylor Cangemi (Winnipeg)

Marilyn Pomfret Award (Fox40 Coach of the Year): Michelle Wood, Acadia

In her 12th season leading the Acadia Axewomen women’s volleyball program, Michelle Wood has won the Marilyn Pomfret Award for the first time. She is the third AUS coach to win the national award after Dalhousie’s Rick Scott in 2016-17 and Moncton’s Monette Boudreau-Carroll in 2007-08. 

The Axewomen finished first in the AUS standings with a 15-5 record, and captured their first-ever AUS championship earlier this month month. As a team, Acadia led the conference in kills per set (11.86), kills (925), total blocks (163) and points (1,217).

As an athlete, Wood played with Toronto for five seasons from 2005-10, was an Academic All-Canadian and a two-time OUA libero of the year. In 2010 she was the OUA nominee for the Thérèse Quigley Award.

Wood gives back to the volleyball community as the founder and director of the Axe Volleyball Club program and as a mentor coach with Volleyball Nova Scotia. She is an NCCP learning facilitator for performance coaches.

Wood was honoured as the recipient of the 2018 Women Active Nova Scotia leadership trendsetter for her work in advancing women in sport.

Other nominees: Olivier Trudel (Montréal), Ryan Ratushniak (Queen’s), Doug Reimer (UBC)

2024 WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL AWARDS & ALL-CANADIANS

Mary Lyons Award (outstanding player of the year): Raya Surinx, Manitoba

Mark Tennant Award (rookie of the year): Abby Guezen, Alberta

Thérèse Quigley Award (student-athlete community service): Madison Hann, Saint Mary’s

Marilyn Pomfret Award (Fox40 Coach of the Year): Michelle Wood, Acadia

First Team All-Canadians

Athlete                                    University                  Pos     Year       Hometown                           Academic Program

Olivia Bell                    Saint Mary’s         OH    5          LaHave Islands, N.S.     Commerce

Olympe Desmedt        Montréal               OH    5          Cannes, France           Project Management

Emma Bergeron          Sherbrooke          S       5          Sherbrooke, Que.         Education

Hannah Duchesneau   Queen’s                OH    3          Sharon, Ont.                Arts and Science

Sara Rohr                    Brock                   S       5          Milton, Ont.                  Health & Physical Ed. (M)

Raya Surinx                 Manitoba              OH    2          Winnipeg, Man.            Science

Kaylee Plouffe             Trinity Western     MB    3          Sherwood Park, Alta.   Human Kinetics

Second Team All-Canadians

Athlete                                    University                  Pos     Year       Hometown                           Academic Program

Gabrielle Attieh            UFV                      OH       5       Surrey, BC                    Arts

Lucy Borowski             UBC                     OH       3       Vancouver, BC             Kinesiology

Lauryn Tremblay          Alberta                 OH       5       St. Albert, Alta.             Kinesiology

Mariah Bereziuk          MacEwan             OH       4       Boyle, Alta.                   Commerce

Jenna Woock              McMaster             MB       5       Richmond Hill, Ont.      Med. Radiation Sciences

Julia Murmann             Toronto                OH/LIB 3       Toronto, Ont.                Social Sciences

Charlotte Dean            Acadia                  S          4       Mississauga, Ont.         Kinesiology

All-Rookie Team

Athlete                                    University                  Pos                       Hometown                           Academic Program

Talia Nixon                   UNB                     OH                Fredericton, N.B.          Arts

Britanie Maranda         Sherbrooke          OH                St-Georges, Que.         Occupational Therapy

Léonie Goupil              Laval                    MB                Montmagny, Que         Law

Olivia Julien                 McMaster             OH                Toronto, Ont.                Life Sciences

Delaney Watson          Toronto                OH                Richmond, B.C.            Humanities

Abby Guezen               Alberta                 OH                Sherwood Park, Alta.   Kinesiology

Ronnie Dickson           Alberta                 MB                Edmonton, Alta.           Arts