Briar Crerar (Women’s Volleyball) Named OUA Athlete of the Week

BURLINGTON, Ont. – For the seventh time during the 2023-24 season, a University of Guelph student-athlete has garnered ‘OUA Athlete of the Week’ honours. Briar Crerar of the Guelph Gryphons women’s volleyball team takes home the conference-wide honour alongside Erica Fryer (University of Toronto Varsity Blues women’s hockey) and MacKeely Shantz (Western Mustangs women’s basketball). Crerar earns the provincial recognition after leading her team to a back-to-back wins this past weekend against the U of T Varsity Blues and the York Lions.
 

OUA Athletes of the Week (Jan. 1-7, 2024)

Briar Crerar, a standout second-year left side hitter on the Gryphons women’s volleyball team, takes home OUA Athlete of the Week honours after totaling 39.5 points and 37 kills over the course of two games this past weekend. Crerar, a 19-year-old native of Pickering, Ontario pursuing an undergraduate degree at the University of Guelph in psychology, helped lead the Gryphons to back-to-back wins, beginning on Thursday night (Jan. 4) against the U of T Varsity Blues. In her first game in nearly a month, Crerar showed no signs of any holiday fatigue as she produced a 19.5 point and 18 kill performance en route to a 3-2 Gryphon victory. In addition to leading the team in kills and points, Crerar also led the team in digs (21) while adding a service ace and an assisted block. 

24 hours later in Toronto at York University’s Tait McKenzie Centre, Crerar was back in form, producing a 20-point performance and tying a career-high in points she set back on December 3, 2022 in a 3-1 loss to the TMU Bold. In addition to tying a career best she also set a new one, in kills with 19 on 45 attacks for a .244 hitting percentage. Crerar also added 2 kill assists and service ace while once again leading the Gryphons in digs with 13. Her performance helped the Gryphons to a dramatic 3-2 victory over the York Lions, which saw the team win three straight sets after trailing 0-2 to improve to 7-2 on the season. It was also Crerar’s second consecutive double-digit point performance and the ninth of her season, with the outside hitter having failed to meet the mark just twice in 11 games.

The Gryphons now sit in 4th-place in the OUA standings, trailing the Queen’s Gaels (7-1), McMaster Marauders (9-1), and Brock Badgers (9-1). In addition to being among the conferences best in the standings, Crerar ranks inside the Top 10 in several key statistical categories including attacks (283, 4th in the OUA), kills (99, 6th in the OUA), service aces (14, 7th in the OUA), and total points (118.5, 6th in the OUA). The Gryphons and Crerar will return to action next weekend (Jan. 12 & 13) when they head to Kingston for back-to-back matches against the RMC Paladins.
 

Guelph Gryphons Named OUA Athletes of the Week in 2023-24