LANGLEY, B.C. – Fourth-year University of Calgary middle Graham Vigrass was named the CIS player of the year in men's volleyball Wednesday night in the B.C. Lower Mainland.

Vigrass became the first Dino to claim the award since 2002 and the 13th consecutive winner from Canada West. The honour came one year after the Calgary native's tournament-MVP performance at the 2010 CIS championship, when he led the Dinos to their first national title in 17 years.

Championship website: http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/mvball

Other CIS major award winners announced during the All-Canadian Banquet held at the Langley Events Centre were Western Ontario left side Garrett May of Toronto, who was chosen rookie of the year; UBC's Blair Bann of Edmonton, named the nation's top libero for the third time in four years; UNB's Dan McMorran, who earned coach-of-the-year honours; as well as UNB's Jacob Kilpatrick of Saint John, who received the Dale Iwanoczko Award recognizing his excellence in volleyball, academics and community involvement.

The 2011 CIS championship gets under way Friday at Trinity Western University and concludes Sunday at 7 p.m. Mountain Time with the gold-medal final. SSN Canada will have live webcasts of all 11 games from the tournament.

The Dinos open the defence of their 2010 CIS championship when they take on the Sherbrooke Vert et Or Friday night, with first serve slated for 9 p.m. MT.

PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Graham Vigrass, Calgary

Vigrass is the fifth Calgary player to win the CIS MVP award, joining Mark Kolodziej (1982), Randy Gingera (1989), Tom Elser (1991) and Denis Zhukov (2002).

One year after leading the Dinos to the CIS title from the right side, the 21-year-old returned to his usual spot in the middle this season and posted outstanding numbers in multiple statistical categories. The 6-foot-8 senior finished second in the nation in hitting percentage at .397 while also posting 3.94 kills per set – third best in Canada West. His 256 kills in conference play nearly doubled his previous career high and accounts for 40 percent of his career total of 640. Also one of the top blockers in the country, Vigrass became Calgary's all-time blocks leader with 199 in four campaigns.

The science student, who represented Canada at the 2009 junior world championship in India, helped the Dinos post a 16-0 start to the regular season – en route to a 16-2 mark and second place in the conference standings – before guiding them to their first Canada West banner since 1994. Calgary enters this weekend's national tournament as the top seed, looking to repeat as CIS champion for the first time in school history.

“Graham's play has been outstanding this season,” said fifth-year Calgary head coach Rod Durrant. “He has developed into an all-around player in both the front row and the back of the court. He leads by example, and he has been a huge part of our team's success this year.”

UNB middle Jacob Kilpatrick of Saint John, Laval outside hitter Karl De Granpré of Pierreville, Que., and Windsor outside Kyle Williamson of Essex, Ont., were the other nominees for CIS MVP.

ALL-CANADIAN TEAMS

The all-Canadian teams were also announced on Wednesday.

Joining Vigrass on the first unit were conference most valuable players Kilpatrick (AUS), De Granpré (RSEQ) and Williamson (OUA), as well as Alberta setter Tanner Nault of Sherwood Park, Alta., Guelph left side Winston Rosser of Whitby, Ont., and Brandon left side Paul Sanderson of Melbourne, Australia.

Sanderson, the CIS MVP a year ago, was named an all-Canadian for the fourth straight season, including first-team nods each of the past three years. De Granpré, who was the CIS rookie of the year back in 2007-08, is the only other returnee from last year's first squad and is now a three-time CIS all-star, including a pair of first-team selections.

The second dream team for 2010-11 is comprised of Laval setter Justin Boudreault of Dolbeau, Que., Sherbrooke middle Pierre-Marc Lussier of Fleurimont, Que., Western Ontario right side Matt Poulin of Shanty Bay, Ont., Dalhousie outside Sander Ratsep of London, Ont., Thompson Rivers left side Kevin Tillie of Cagnes-sur-Mer, France, Trinity Western middle Rudy Verhoeff of Calgary, and Queen's outside Joren Zeeman of Cambridge, Ont.

Zeeman was selected to the second CIS unit for the third consecutive season, while Ratsep had been a first-team all-Canadian each of the past two years.

Joining May on the season's all-rookie team are conference top freshmen Bibeault-Pinard (RSEQ) and Komishon (Canada West), as well as UBC left side Ben Chow of Surrey, B.C., Trinity Western left side Nicholas Del Bianco of Langley, B.C., Waterloo outside Fiodar Kazhamiaka of Waterloo, Ont., and McMaster outside Jori Mantha of Vanier, Ont.

2010-2011 CIS MEN'S VOLLEYBALL AWARDS & ALL-CANADIANS

Player of the year: Graham Vigrass, Calgary
Rookie of the year: Garrett May, Western Ontario
Libero of the year: Blair Bann, UBC
Coach of the year, presented by Coaches of Canada: Dan McMorran, UNB
Dale Iwanoczko Award (outstanding student-athlete – community service): Jacob Kilpatrick, UNB

First Team

OH Karl De Grandpré, Laval
M Jacob Kilpatrick, UNB
S Tanner Nault, Alberta
LS Winston Rosser, Guelph
LS Paul Sanderson, Brandon
M Graham Vigrass, Calgary
OH Kyle Williamson, Windsor

Second Team

S Justin Boudreault, Laval
M Pierre-Marc Lussier, Sherbrooke
RS Matt Poulin, Western
OH Sander Ratsep, Dalhousie
LS Kevin Tillie, Thompson Rivers
M Rudy Verhoeff, Trinity Western
OH Joren Zeeman, Queen's

All-Rookie Team

M Olivier Bibeault-Pinard, Laval
LS Ben Chow, UBC
LS Nicholas Del Bianco, Trinity Western
OH Fiodar Kazhamiaka, Waterloo
S Chris Komishon, Manitoba
OH Jori Mantha, McMaster
LS Garrett May, Western

About Canadian Interuniversity Sport
Canadian Interuniversity Sport is the national governing body of university sport in Canada. Fifty-one universities, 10,000 student-athletes and 550 coaches vie for 21 national championships in 12 different sports. CIS also provides high performance international opportunities for Canadian student-athletes at Winter and Summer Universiades, as well as numerous world university championships. For further information, visit www.cis-sic.ca.

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