OUA Announces 2015 Men's Volleyball Major Awards and All-Stars

The McMaster Marauders finished the 2014-15 OUA regular season with a 19-1 record, the No. 1-seed in the CIS Top 10, and will be hosting the OUA men's volleyball Final Four this weekend.

It's no surprise, then, that McMaster also had more athletes on its team named OUA All-Stars than any other school, including middle hitter Danny Demyanenko (Toronto, Ont.), who has been named OUA Most Valuable Player and an OUA First-Team All-Star.

It is the second year in a row a Marauder has won the OUA MVP award – outside hitter Jori Mantha (Vanier, Ont.) won in 2013-14 – and Demyanenko is well-deserving of the honour. Named OUA Rookie of the Year in 2012-13 and a second-team all-star last season, Demyanenko has developed into one of the top players in the country and led the conference in hitting percentage at .567, ranked third in blocks per set with 1.11, and finished seventh in the league averaging 3.8 points per set. In addition to his solid numbers, Demyanenko is one of the team's leaders, known for his solid all-round play.

McMaster setter Austin Campion-Smith (Bowmanville, Ont.) is a First-Team All-Star once again after receiving the honour in 2013-14. The fifth-year Marauder led the conference in assists per set with 10.1 and was fourth in total assists with 606. Last year's MVP winner, Mantha, receives second-team honours, as does his teammate and a member of last season's All-Rookie team outside hitter Brandon Koppers (Georgetown, Ont.). Two first-year Marauders were named to the OUA All-Rookie team; outside hitter Andrew Richards (London, Ont.) and middle hitter Peter Khodkevych (Woodbridge, Ont.).

Marauders head coach Dave Preston has been named OUA Coach of the Year. It is the third time in his career he has won the award, previously receiving it in 2012-13 and 2007-08; he was also named CIS Coach of the Year in both of those seasons.

The Waterloo Warriors finished third in OUA with a 13-7 record thanks to the strong play of their three all-stars.

Middle hitter Jordan Dyck (St. Catharines, Ont.) is the Warriors lone First-Team selection. Named a Second-Team All-Star last season, Dyck took great strides forward in 2014-15, leading the conference in blocks per set with 1.24, while finishing third in the conference with a .433 hitting percentage, and ranked 13^th in OUA with 3.5 points per set.

The Warriors have two members of their team on the Second-Team All-Star roster. Middle hitter Jordan McConkey (Stratford, Ont.), who was on the All-Rookie team last year, finished second in OUA in hitting percentage (.455) and led the conference with 88 total blocks. He is joined on the Second-Team by his teammate, right side hitter Zachary Doherty (Goderich, Ont.), the team leader in kills per set with 3.16.

The York Lions put together a successful 13-7 season and have two OUA All-Stars, including one major award winner. A First-Team All-Star the last two seasons, outside hitter Ray Szeto (Sutton, Ont.) receives the honour once again. Szeto finished second in the conference with 271 kills while ranking fourth with 3.66 kills per set. His 313.5 points were also second best in the conference, and he ranked fifth with 4.2 points per set.

Lions outside hitter Josh Henderson (Scarborough, Ont.) has been named the 2015 OUA Rookie of the Year and an OUA Second-Team All-Star. In just his first OUA season, Henderson ranked fifth in the league with 239 kills, sixth in kills per set (3.23), fourth in points (291), and sixth in points per set (3.9). Henderson is the first Lion since 2000 to win Rookie of the Year, and has certainly shown the potential to become one of the top players in the country. Henderson was also named to the OUA All-Rookie Team, along with his teammate Arthur Swarcz (Toronto, Ont.).

Outsider hitter Mike Tomlinson (Stratford, Ont.) was a leader on and off the court this year for the Queen's Gaels, and receives recognition as an OUA First-Team All-Star and the OUA nomination for the CIS Dale Iwanoczko Award for the student athlete who best combines academics, outstanding community service, and on-court performance. Known as one of the top servers in the conference, Tomlinson led OUA with 0.44 services aces per set, and ranked fourth with 27 total aces. He also finished fourth in points per set (4.3) and seventh in overall points (260), and improved upon his second-team selection last year.

More impressive, though, is what Tomlinson did when he wasn't playing volleyball. The fourth-year Bio-Chemical Engineering student had a 3.99 GPA in the first semester of 2014-15, and has a cumulative career GPA of 3.34. He is the Co-President of the Varsity Leadership Council at Queen's, which represents all of the school's varsity athletes and runs several community events. Some of the events include Run For the Cure, a Mental Health Awareness Day, and collecting food donations and money for Christmas gift baskets.

Also receiving a major award for the Queen's Gaels is Ivo Dramov (Plovdiv, Bulgaria), who was named OUA Libero of the Year. The defensive specialist led the conference in digs with 239, and digs per set with 3.37.

Left side hitter Lucas Coleman (Brooklin, Ont.) is the lone All-Star representative from the second-place Ryerson Rams.  Coleman is an OUA First-Team All-Star after finishing tied for third in the conference in kills and kills per set with 245 and 3.71, respectively. He also ranked third in points per set (4.5) and total points (300), sixth in service aces per set (0.38), and seventh in total service aces (25).

Justin Scapinello (London, Ont), a right side hitter for the Western Mustangs, was arguably the best offensive player in the conference this season, and is named an OUA First-Team All-Star. Scapinello led the conference with 315 kills, 31 service aces, 367 points, and 4.7 points per set. He also ranked second in kills per set (4.04), third in aces per set (0.4), and fifth in digs (143). No other Mustangs were named OUA All-Stars, but setter Matt Hooker (Winnipeg, Man.) was named to the OUA All-Rookie Team.

Rounding out the All-Star selections are middle blocker Marc Wilson (Stratford, Ont.) from the Guelph Gryphons and right side hitter Cameron Branch (Kingsville, Ont.) from the Nipissing Lakers, both of whom were named OUA Second-Team All-Stars.

Wilson finished seventh in the conference in hitting percentage (.386) and sixth in total blocks (66).

No one in the province put down more kills per set than Branch, who led OUA with 4.08, and finished third in total kills with 245.

Windsor Lancers left side hitter Jake MacNeil (Georgetown, Ont.) and Guelph middle blocker Kendrick Kerr (Georgetown, Ont.) round out the selections for the OUA All-Rookie Team.

OUA Major Award Winners

OUA Most Valuable Player: Danny Demyanenko – McMaster

OUA Rookie of the Year: Josh Henderson – York

Dale Iwanoczko Award Nominee: Mike Tomlinson – Queen's

OUA Libero of the Year: Ivo Dramov – Queen's

OUA Coach of the Year: Dave Preston – McMaster

OUA First Team All-Stars

Danny Demyanenko – McMaster

Ray Szeto – York

Austin Campion Smith – McMaster

Lucas Coleman – Ryerson

Mike Tomlinson – Queen's

Jordan Dyck – Waterloo

Justin Scapinello – Western

OUA Second Team All-Stars

Marc Wilson – Guelph

Brandon Koppers – McMaster

Josh Henderson – York

Jori Mantha – McMaster

Jordan McConkey – Waterloo

Zach Doherty – Waterloo

Cameron Branch – Nipissing

OUA All-Rookie Team

Josh Henderson – York

Andrew Richards – McMaster

Peter Khodkevych – McMaster

Jake MacNeil – Windsor

Arthur Swarcz – York

Matt Hooker – Western

Kendrick Kerr – Guelph