The 2023 Manitoba Colleges Athletic Conference (MCAC) women’s volleyball season finished with an outstanding five set thriller comeback and winning back-to-back conference titles for the #1 seed Université de Saint-Boniface (USB) Les Rouges. USB, the host, won in front of a packed standing room only hometown crowd with second year left side Valeria Gonzalez being selected as Championship MVP.
Saint-Boniface defeated the #2 seed Providence University College (PUC) Pilots in five sets (21-25, 26-24, 21-25, 25-22, 15-12) at the 2023 MCAC Women’s Volleyball Championship Final on Sunday, February 26.
Les Rouges (14-4 regular season record; 2-0 playoffs) found a way to a hard fought victory as Gonzalez was the one of the go-to-players especially in the final as they won the crucial fourth and deciding fifth set.
Gonzalez said after the championship, “We have been thru five sets in the past and that helped us this year. I felt confident we could pull it out in a fifth set. I think for our team, we like the pressure and it was so cool and amazing to play in front of our hometown fans and family to win this again!”
“Val continues to grow and you can see her potential and athleticism” commented USB’s head coach Evan Turenne. “She was able to handle the situation better this year than her rookie year and was able to have a solid performance throughout the championship weekend.”
With the conference championship, USB repeats as conference championship winners and claims their fifth overall title in program’s history (2001, 2002, 2003, 2022 and now 2023).
In addition, Les Rouges now advances as the MCAC representative to the 2023 Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Women’s Volleyball National Championship hosted by Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo, BC from March 8-11.
This also capped an outstanding season for the Arts student-athlete. The Winnipeg native was also named as 2022-23 MCAC Women’s Volleyball All Conference recognition earlier this season.
MCAC Athlete of the Week winners for 2022-23 season
Week 1 (ending Sept. 11, 2022)
WSOC: Sara Boissonneault – USB
MSOC: Jordi Haskerkehrer – USB
Week 2 (ending Sept. 18, 2022)
WSOC: Kendra Mansoff – ACC
MSOC: Camilo Rodriguez – BU
Week 3 (ending Sept. 25, 2022)
WSOC: Tara Boulanger – USB
MSOC: Johnathan Kohan – BU
Week 4 (ending Oct. 2, 2022)
WSOC: Ava Temple – PUC
MSOC: Matheus Souza – BU
Week 5 (ending Oct. 9, 2022)
WSOC: Tiegan Kroeker – CMU
MSOC: Kevin Lopez – ACC
Week 6 (ending Oct. 16, 2022)
WSOC: Kalyna Démaré – USB
MSOC: Garreth Rayner – PUC
Week 7 (ending Oct. 23, 2022)
WSOC: Katie Moniot – USB
MSOC: Sean Kirkpatrick – PUC
Week 8 (ending Oct. 30, 2022)
WSOC: Marijka Yaschyshyn – USB
MSOC: Ayman Soussi – USB
Week 9 (ending Nov. 6, 2022)
WVB: Angéline Ritchot – USB
MVB: Vaughn Zimmer – ACC
Week 10 (ending Nov. 13, 2022)
WVB: Valeria Gonzalez – USB
MVB: Albert Francisco – CMU
Week 11 (ending Nov. 20, 2022)
WBB: Briana Ehrmantraut – CMU
MVB: Noah Boschman – PUC
Week 12 (ending Nov. 27, 2022)
WVB: Tyra Peters – PUC
MVB: Sebastian Verdaguer – PUC
Week 13 (ending Dec. 4, 2022)
WVB: Paige Wright – CMU
MVB: Cameron Gayleard – CMU
Week 14 (ending Jan. 15, 2023)
WVB: Layla Reichert – CMU
MBB: Daniel Cameron – CMU
Week 15 (ending Jan. 22, 2023)
WVB: Amanda Bergen – PUC
MFUT: Abdoul Niangadou – USB
Week 16 (ending Jan. 29, 2023)
WVB: Elle Snyder – ACC
MVB: Josh Werbiski – CMU
Week 17 (ending Feb. 5, 2023)
WFUT: Alexi Gagnon – USB
MBB: Joshua Armstrong – PUC
Week 18 (ending Feb. 12, 2023)
WBB: Anna Pyne – CMU
MBB: Joshua Armstrong – PUC
Week 19 (ending Feb. 19, 2023)
WFUT: Sara Boissonneault – USB
MFUT: Sam Wetstein – BU
Week 20 (ending Feb. 26, 2023)
WVB: Valeria Gonzalez – USB
MVB: Hector Ortiz – PUC