The accolades just keep coming for Barrhead native and volleyball star Max Vriend.
Earlier this month Vriend, who just completed his first season with the MacEwan Griffins Volleyball team, was named to the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) All-Rookie Team. CIS is the national governing body of university sport in Canada. Fifty-four members, 10,000 student athletes and 550 coaches vie for 19 national championships in 11 different sports.
The March 1 issue the Barrhead Leader featured Vriend telling readers how he became a part of the Griffins staring line-up in only his rookie season.
Brad Poplawski, Griffins Men’s Volleyball team head coach, said Vriend’s selection to the All-Rookie team is well deserved.
This year, with the Griffins Vriend played in all 24 regular season matches, recording 139 kills, eight assists, 15 aces, 49 digs, and 74 blocks for 198 points. He is also the first Griffin to be named an All-Rookie All-Canadian in MacEwan University’s two-year CIS history.
“The learning curve for middles in the Canada West is huge and Max was able to thrive in that position (middle blocker) and become a force at the net for us. He was able to carry a lot of offense for us from the back row as well,” Poplawski said, adding Vriend also brought a number of intangibles to the Griffins.
“Aside from Max’s size and abilities, he was an absolute joy to coach as he came to every practice and off-court session with a desire to improve and willingness to work. He is a student of the game and has an incredible passion for the sport of volleyball. We look forward to seeing Max’s continued progression as he continues to establish himself in the Canada West,” he said.
