Member Association News: CAN Announces Women's Volleyball Team for Bangkok
July 30th, 2007
Chalmers
A delegation of 12 women volleyball players, 11 of whom compete within the Canadian Interuniversity Sports (CIS) network, will represent Canada at the 2007 Summer Universiade which will take place in Bangkok, Thailand. The official roster was announced on Thursday July 26th by CIS. The 24th Universiade Volleyball tournament will take place from August 10th to 17th. Canada will open the competition on August 10th when they will play Serbia before facing Slovakia the next day. The Canadians will close the first round on August 12th against China, the 2005 Bronze medal winners and champions of the 2003 Universiade. In order to reach the medal round, the Canadians will need to finish first or second in their pool. "We have a mix of seasoned veterans on the one hand and of young talented and highly motivated players on the other. Our lineup is very athletic and everyone is thrilled at the thought of competing in this universiade", commented coach Naoki Miyashita who also acts as Head Coach of the national team. The Canadian team includes three members of the University of Alberta Pandas who won the Canadian University Championship last spring, namely attacker Jocelyn Blair (St. Albert, AB) and passer Daryll Roper (St. Albert, AB) as well as attacker Tiffany Dodds (Lucky Lake, Sask.) who had a terrific season and was selected Player of the 2007 CIS Championship as well as Canadian Player of the Year for the 2006-2007 season. The University of British Columbia T-Birds will also be well represented by veterans such as passer Carla Bradstock (Richmond,BC) and middle Shelley Chalmers (Vancouver,BC), as well as sisters Elizabeth and Emily Cordonier (Vancouver, BC) who play as attackers. The Canadian team will also rely on three other centers: Nadine Alphonse (Montreal, QC) from the Université de Montréal Carabins, Dayna Jansen Van Doorn (Langley, BC) from the Trinity Western Spartans as well as last season’s Canadian Rookie of the Year, Ashley Voth (Winnipeg, Man.), from the University of Manitoba Bisons. Forward Kim Todd (Whitby, Ont.), who competes in the NCAA for Marquette University and who was selected to the 2006 Big-East Conference first all-star team, will also be part of the Canadian offense. Rookie of the Year for the 2004-2005 season, Université de Sherbrooke Vert & Or’s Marie-Christine Pruneau (Windsor, QC) will act as libero. We are highly optimistic as to Pruneau’s chances of eventually occupying the same spot on the national team. Five members of the present Canadian team have already completed four or five years of eligibility. Four more have just completed their third year of eligibility while three others have completed two or less university seasons. This year’s roster was selected following the senior national team’s training camp program, which ran for over two weeks. The Canadian delegation will fly to Tokyo, Japan, for one week of training prior to the Bangkok Universiade. "The Universiades offer a great opportunity for the development of our program and for our athletes to face a high level of competition. The calibre of play is very high at these games and competing against worldwide quality teams will be an outstanding experience for our delegation." As to Canada’s chances of surviving its pool, Coach Miyashita remains realistic. "We have a very tough pool but we are feeling up to the challenge and we are eager to put up a good fight against Serbia, Slovakia and China." In Thailand, Miyashita will be assisted by Michael Ling of the University of Alberta. Melanie Sanford, of the University of Regina, will act as manager. At the 2005 Universiade in Izmir, Turkey, Chinese Taipei had captured gold at the expense of Poland, while China had finished third. Canada had had to settle for 12th place. With a 3-2 record in the preliminaries, Canada had gone on to beat Portugal before bowing to Finland and then to France. Canada had placed 11th at Daegu, Korea, in 2003. Canada’s best performances in women’s volleyball at a Universiade go back to 1997 in Italy and to 1983 in Edmonton when Canada had captured 4th place.
Canadian Women’s Volleyball Roster
+ Nadine Alphonse (2nd, Montreal, Que., Université de Montreal, 6’1, middle) + Jocelyn Blair (4th, St. Albert, Alb., University of Alberta, 6’1, left side) - 2007 CIS Championship All-Star - 2006-2007 CIS Second Team All-Canadian + Carla Bradstock (5th, Richmond, B.C., University of British Columbia, 5’9, setter) + Shelley Chalmers (5th, Vancouver, B.C., University of British Columbia, 6’1, middle) - 2006 CIS Championship All-Star - 2005-2006 First Team All-Canadian - Canadian Team member at the 2005 Summer Universiade in Turkey - 2004-2005 Second Team All-Canadian - 2004 CIS Championship All-Star + Elizabeth Cordonier (2nd, Vancouver, B.C., University of British Columbia, 6’1, left side) + Emily Cordonier (5th, Vancouver, B.C., University of British Columbia, 6’3, left side) - 2006 CIS Championship All-Star - 2005-2006 First Team All-Canadian - 2004-2005 First Team All-Canadian + Tiffany Dodds (3rd, Lucky Lake, Sask., University of Alberta, 6’3, setter and outside) - 2007 CIS Championship MVP - 2006-2007 CIS Player of the Year and First Team All-Canadian - 2005-2006 Second Team All-Canadian - Canadian Team member at the 2005 Summer Universiade in Turkey + Dayna Jansen Van Doorn (4th, Langley, B.C., Trinity Western University, 6’4, middle) + Marie-Christine Pruneau (3rd, Windsor, Que., Université de Sherbrooke, libero) - 2006-2007 CIS Second Team All-Canadian - 2004-2005 CIS Rookie of the Year + Daryll Roper (3rd, St. Albert, Alb., University of Alberta, 6’0, setter) - 2007 CIS Championship All-Star + Kim Todd (3rd, Whitby, Ont., Marquette University, 6’2, outside) - 2006 First Team All-Big East + Ashley Voth (1st, Winnipeg, Man., University of Manitoba, 6’2, middle) - 2006-2007 CIS Rookie of the Year
