OTTAWA (CIS) – Canadian Interuniversity Sport, in conjunction with Volleyball Canada, announced Friday the 12 players who will represent Canada in women's volleyball at the 25th Summer Universiade set to take place July 1-12, 2009, in Belgrade, Serbia.

2009 Summer Universiade website: www.universiade-belgrade2009.org
Team Canada website: www.universitysport.ca/belgrade

The Canadian squad enters the Belgrade Games looking to make it out of group play for the first time since an eighth-place finish in 2001 in Beijing, China. The Canadian women spikers have since placed 11th in 2003 in South Korea, 12th in 2005 in Turkey and 11th two years ago in Bangkok, Thailand.

Canada's best results in women's volleyball at the bi-annual FISU Games remain a pair of fourth positions, in 1983 in Edmonton and in 1997 in Italy.

The 2009 edition of Team Canada is comprised of 11 CIS players, including six former all-Canadians, and an ex-NCAA star who played professional ball in Finland this past season.

Highlighting a group of six outside hitters is University of Alberta graduate Jocelyn Blair of St. Albert, Alta., a three-time all-Canadian in five campaigns with the Pandas and a national champion in 2006-07.

Rounding out the talented offensive contingent are South Florida's Kristina Fabris of Sudbury, Ont., Calgary's Holly Harper of Regina Beach, Sask., Montreal's Marie-Pier Murray-Méthot of Montreal, UBC's Kyla Richey of Roberts Creek, B.C., and Saint Mary's Keri Smit of Shubenacadie, N.S.

Fabris was the 2004-05 Conference USA rookie of the year and played for the Finnish team Pislaploki in 2008-09. Harper was a first-team CIS all-star last season and claimed five CIS medals in five seasons as a U of C Dino. Murray-Méthot was a second-team all-Canadian in 2006-07 and helped the U de M Carabins claim silver and bronze, respectively, at the last two CIS championships. Richey helped the Thunderbirds claim back-to-back CIS titles in her first two campaigns at UBC and was the national tournament MVP last March. Smit made the second CIS all-star team in 2008-09.

Manitoba's Samantha Loewen of East St. Paul, Man., and Montreal's Alexandra Lojen of Montreal will be Canada's setters in Serbia. Loewen was the 2007-08 CIS rookie of the year while Lojen was a Quebec conference all-star last season.

Leading the defensive effort will be Western Ontario's Andrea Ruste. The Edmonton native is the reigning CIS libero of the year.

Patrolling the net will be the experienced trio of Marisa Field, a 6-foot-2 middle from Kelowna, B.C., Dayna Jansen Van Doorn, a 6-foot-4 veteran from Langley, B.C., and Laura Spence, a 6-foot-1 senior from Calgary. 

Field and Jansen Van Doorn have both used their five years of CIS eligibility while Spence has been a Dino for four seasons. Field is a two-time national champion with UBC and was a second-team all-Canadian in 2008-09. Jansen Van Doorn, from Trinity Western, made the first CIS squad this season, while Spence is a four-time CIS medallist.

While the Canadian roster boasts four members with five seasons of university experience and four more who have used four years of eligibility, only a handful of them have international experience including Blair and Jansen Van Doorn, the only returnees from 2007.

“Only two or three of our players have competed at this kind of international event before,” said Team Canada head coach Olivier Trudel, who heads the University of Montreal program. “While we'd obviously love to go deep into the tournament, our number one objective is to gain some experience and to build on what we've worked on thus far this summer.”

 “With our team being relatively young from an international perspective, we'll have to play within our system, play very well as a team in order to have success,” added Trudel, whose assistants in Belgrade will be Trinity Western's Ryan Hofer and UBC's Joanne Ross.

The Canadian women will be in tough from the get go as they open the Universiade tourney on July 2 against China, which captured FISU bronze in 2007 and silver in 2005. Canada then faces Slovenia on July 3 before rounding out Group C play against Taiwan on July 5.

The top two teams from each of the four groups will battle in the quarterfinal round on July 7. The semi-finals are set for July 8, and the bronze and gold-medal games for July 10.

“As usual, we expect our two Asian opponents to be very quick, fast-paced teams, while Slovenia will be a typical, very physical Eastern European team,” Trudel offered.

Poland is defending Universiade women's volleyball champion. Serbia took silver in 2007.

TEAM CANADA ROSTER   

OH Jocelyn Blair, Alberta (St. Albert, Alta.)
OH Kristina Fabris, South Florida (Sudbury, Ont.)
MH Marisa Field, UBC (Kelowna, B.C.)
OH Holly Harper, Calgary (Lumsden, Sask.)
MH Dayna Jansen Van Doorn, Trinity Western (Langley, B.C.)
S Samantha Loewen, Manitoba (East St. Paul, Man.)
S Alexandra Lojen, Montreal (Montreal, Que.)
OH Marie-Pier Murray-Methot, Montreal (Montreal, Que.)
OH Kyla Richey, UBC (Roberts Creek, B.C.)
L Andrea Ruste, Western Ontario (Edmonton, Alta.)
OH Kerri Smit, Saint Mary's (Shubenacadie, N.S.)
MH Laura Spence, Calgary (Calgary, Alta.)

Staff

Head coach: Olivier Trudel, University of Montreal, Montreal, Que.
Assistant coach: Ryan Hofer, Trinity Western University, Langley, B.C.
Assistant coach: Joanne Ross, UBC, Vancouver, B.C.
Therapist: Elizabeth Proskurnik, Winnipeg, Man.     

CANADA'S SCHEDULE AND DRAW:
 
July 2    Preliminaries Group C: Canada vs. China
July 3    Preliminaries Group C: Canada vs. Slovenia
July 5    Preliminaries Group C: Canada vs. Taiwan
July 7    Quarterfinals
July 8    Semi-finals
July 10    Bronze & Final
 
Group A: Serbia, Italy, Great Britain, Brazil
Group B: Poland, Spain, Turkey, Mongolia
Group C: Canada, China, Taiwan, Slovania
Group D: Thailand, Japan, Russia, Sweden

CANADA'S RESULTS AT RECENT SUMMER UNIVERSIADES:
 
2007 (Bangkok, Thailand): 11th
2005 (Izmir, Turkey): 12th 
2003 (Daegu, South Korea): 11th
2001 (Beijing, China): 8th

CANADA'S BEST FINISH AT THE SUMMER UNIVERSIADE:
 
1997 (Sicily, Italy): 4th 
1983 (Edmonton, Canada): 4th

About the Summer Universiade

The Summer Universiade is an international multi-sport event that takes place every two years, and is second only to the Olympic Games in the number of participating athletes and countries. The Universiade is open to competitors between the ages of 17 and 28 in the year of the Games who are full-time students at a post-secondary institution (university, college, CEGEP) or have graduated from a post-secondary institution in the year preceding the event.

About Canadian Interuniversity Sport

Canadian Interuniversity Sport is the national governing body of university sport in Canada. Fifty-two universities, 10,000 student-athletes and 550 coaches vie for 21 national championships in 12 different sports. The CIS also provides high performance international opportunities for Canadian student-athletes at Winter and Summer Universiades, and 32 World University Championships. For further information, visit www.universitysport.ca.

-CIS-