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From left: Dr. Alaa Abd-El-Aziz, UBC O Provost, Alex Basso, and Robin Durrant, President and CEO of Capri Insurance.
Contributed
Second-year men’s volleyball player Nate Speijer (Penticton, BC) and second-year women’s volleyball player Alex Basso (Kelowna, BC) have earned this years honors as UBCO’s Athletes of the Year.
These awards were announced at the 2010 UBC Okanagan Heat Awards Banquet held on March 29. Speijer led his team to an unbeaten regular league season as well as a provincial andnational bronze medal, while Basso led her team to a double gold undefeated season.
Both Speijer and Basso were BCCAA Player’s of the Year as well as first team All-Canadians. Basso also earned the CCAA Player of the Year.
A finalist for the CCAA Player of the Year, Speijer capped off his second season with UBCO’s second appearance at the national championships in three seasons. The 2010 All-Canadian and a member of the CCAA Championship All-Tournament team, Speijer aided the Heat in setting a new program record with 16 straight wins and a season record of 22-2.
Speijer, the 2010 BCCAA Player of the Year, ranked first on the squad with 4.45 kills per game on .310 hitting with a team high 34 aces, also adding in 89 digs and 42 total stuff blocks. Speijer captured his second All-Conference honour and was the unanimous pick for the BCCAA first team All-Star squad.
After only two seasons Speijer has already taken over third spot in program history in total career kills with 541. He is behind Jeff Cundy (2002-2004, 2005-2008) with 712, and Frank Meuller (1998-2001) with 616. Speijer is second overall in career aces with 71, just behind Chris Major (1998-2001, 2006-2008), who holds the record with 92.
Team Award Winners:
- Most Valuable Player – Preston Tucker
- Most Improved Player – Chris Howe
- Coach’s Award – Brett Uniat
- Rob Sivacoe – Aleks Bergen
Tags: alex Basso, Athletes of the Year, mens volleyball, Nate Speijer, ubc okanagan heat, womens volleyball
