Alberta’s White headlines U SPORTS women’s volleyball major award winners

Further establishing herself as one of the best players in Pandas history, fifth-year Alberta outside hitter Kory White is the recipient of the Mary Lyons Award as the 2022 U SPORTS Player of the Year.

White was named the Canada West MVP in 2020 and 2022, becoming just the third student-athlete in conference history to win consecutive Canada West Player of the Year awards. Former Pandas setter Mirka Pribylova won three-straight awards from 1996-1998, while Pandas outside Jenny Cartmell won back-to-back in 1999 and 2000.

White led the 16-2 Pandas with 245 kills in 18 matches, finishing the season with a .320 attack percentage. The Pandas Volleyball Club product added 114 digs and 20 aces in 2021/22.

The Edmonton, Alta. native finished her varsity career as the Canada West All-time leader in kills (1,377), points (1,567.5), and second in kills per set (4.21).  White is the 5th Panda to win the Mary Lyons Award.

“Kory has been a great player for our team over her career with the Pandas on the court, and just as importantly, off the court,” said Pandas head coach Laurie Eisler. “She is one of the most driven, humble athletes I’ve ever coached who is completely committed to the development process. She is a great teammate, a leader by example and we are all thrilled for her that she is getting this much-deserved recognition.”  

Nominees

• CW: Kory White, Alberta (Winner)
• OUA: Jenna Woock, Toronto
• RSEQ: Charlène Robitaille, McGill
• AUS: Taylor Collombin, Acadia

Coming on to the scene in a major way in her first year of eligibility, Murmann proved to be a problem for her opposition. Her 3.44 kills per set led all of U SPORTS for first-year eligible athletes and was tied for tenth among all athletes.

Recording 129.5 points throughout the season, the Toronto native led all Varsity Blues. In addition to her U SPORTS rookie of the year award, Murmann was also named OUA rookie of the year, an OUA East first-team all-star, and named to the OUA and U SPORTS East all-rookie team.

Nominees

• CW: Madelyn Hettinga, UBC Okanagan
• OUA: Julie Murmann, Toronto (Winner)
• RSEQ: Gabrielle Fortin, Montréal
• AUS: Melissa Hatfield, Memorial

Victoria Iannotti is the recipient of the Thérèse Quigley Award for excellence on the volleyball court, within the classroom and within the community.

Maintaining a 3.66 GPA in Software Engineering, Iannotti has demonstrated the ability to grow and develop into one of the key pieces to the RSEQ Champion McGill Martlets volleyball team, leading the conference in kills per set and points per set.

In addition to everything she gives to the volleyball program, Victoria is also very involved in her community. She sits on the McGill Varsity Council as Vice President of Student Athlete Initiatives.

Her passion for sports has led her to get involved with the McGill STAR Initiative (Student Tutor Athlete Role-models) whose mission is to foster an active healthy lifestyle among youth in Montreal. She is part of the executive committee and is currently working on a “Learn to Play” project, with the aim of helping young students in Montreal who have not had the opportunity to interact with their peers during the pandemic, to learn how to play together as well as show them how being active can be fun.

Iannotti is a peer tutor with the CSUS helpdesk (Computer Science Undergraduate Society) where she helps students with their course work and runs exam review sessions. As a woman in STEM, she is also passionate about advocating for diversity in related fields. She volunteers with POWE McGill (Promoting Opportunities for Women in Engineering) as a shadow day mentor where she is paired with a high school student interested in the field of engineering and helps show them what it’s like in the program as well as answer questions they have.

Finally, Victoria is also passionate about education and technology. She is involved with Kids Code Jeunesse (KCJ), a Canadian charity whose mission is to give every Canadian child access to digital skills education, with a focus on girls and underserved communities. She sits on their Advisory Board as a Youth Advisor and offers her perspective on the organization’s initiatives and projects. She is also part of the KCJ Innovation Lab Committee, an initiative that will empower high school students with the technical skills and knowledge of the social implication that technology has on society to become effective and empathetic leaders in the future. Victoria also works as an Online Instructor Intern with KCJ where she teaches workshops in schools across the country to inspire kids to learn to code.

Nominees 

• CW: Kenzie Vaandering, Calgary
• OUA: Jessie Nairn, McMaster
• RSEQ: Victoria Iannotti, McGill (Winner)
• AUS: Kathleen Fougere, Dalhousie

Badgers coach Steve Delaney was instrumental in helping guide his squad to an undefeated regular season and Brock’s first OUA title in program history, earning the Marilyn Pomfret Award as the U SPORTS Fox 40 Coach of the Year.

During the team’s first perfect season since 1989-90, Delaney and the Badgers strung off 16 consecutive winning sets, demonstrating critical consistency in their on-court dominance. The team completed the campaign as the OUA leaders in total kills (598), kills per set (13.91), total assists (550), assists per set (12.79), total points (762), and points per set (17.7).

Previously winning the conference coaching award in 2019-20, the now back-to-back  OUA winner saw his team take home a second straight West Division title, and after earning their first final four spot since 1991 last season, Delaney captured his first conference banner.

Nominees

• CW: Ryan Hofer, Trinity Western
• OUA: Steve Delaney, Brock (Winner)
• RSEQ: Annie Lévesque & Annie Martin, Sherbrooke
• AUS: Darren Russell, Saint Mary’s