Posted: Feb 17, 2012
University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds outside hitter Julio Fernandez has been named the most valuable player of the Atlantic University Sport men's volleyball conference.
Fernandez, a third-year player from Los Teques, Venezuela, was also chosen to the all-star team along with teammate John Sheehan, a fifth-year veteran from New Maryland.
Voting was done by the conference's three head coaches following regular season play.
The six-foot-three Fernandez exploded on to the AUS volleyball scene last season as a sophomore and was a key member of the UNB squad that ended Dalhousie's 24-year run of Atlantic conference championships.
Fernandez led the league this season in scoring (4.76 points per game, second in CIS), total kills (256) and kills per game (4.20, second in CIS). He also ranked third in AUS hitting percentage (0.270), sixth in digs (2.00 per game), eighth in blocks (0.70 per game) and eighth in service aces (0.13 per game).
'Julio is having an outstanding year for us,' UNB head coach Dan McMorran said in a news release. 'He has consistently shown that he is not only one of the best in our conference, but amongst the best in the country. This is a well-deserved award and we are very proud of him.' This marks the first time a UNB player has been selected as AUS MVP in back-to-back years. UNB's Jacob Kilpatrick took home the honour in 2010-11.
No Atlantic conference player has ever been named CIS player of the year.
Other AUS major award winners announced Thursday were Dalhousie's Connor Maessen of Dartmouth, N.S., who was named rookie of the year; Memorial's Brad Jolliffe of Clarenville, Nfld., who was selected as the libero of the year; Dal's Daniel You who received the Student-Athlete Community Service Award and Dalhousie head coach Dan Ota, who was named the AUS men's volleyball coach of the year.
Rounding out the all-star squad are Kenneth Rauwerda, Graeme Higgins and You of Dal, along with Andrew Stephens of Memorial.
The 12-5 Tigers host the 11-6 V-Reds tonight in the first match of a best-ofthree AUS final. The second match goes Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Richard J. Currie Center.
On the women's side, Fredericton's Vanja Mitrovic of UNB was selected to the AUS all-rookie team.