The St. Thomas University Tommies cleaned house during the ACAA’s annual volleyball awards banquet.
Christian Christie led the way as he was named CCAA All-Canadian, ACAA MVP and 1st Team ACAA All-Star, while Garret Dickson, Nathan Brown and Dallas Melnick joined him on the All-Star team, with Melnick also being named the league’s Rookie of the Year. Head coach Henri Mallet was honoured for the second straight year as the league’s Coach of the Year.
Christie led the ACAA in service aces and points per set, while finishing 2nd in kills per set.
“Chris' success comes from all his hard work on and off the court,” said Mallet. “He's been our leader since his rookie year and he doesn't let anyone outwork him. He's had some success in the past but this year, he brought his game to a new level by being in control and finding ways to score when we needed big plays. Everyone knows how dominant he can be at the net offensively and with his blocking presence, but he's also our strongest passer and a great defender. With his third season of 200+ points, he's a top CCAA player.”
Dickson also continued to excel for the Tommies after being named a league All-Star last year, finishing 3rd in the ACAA in blocks and having a .299 attack percentage.
“Garret's sense of the game and efficiency makes him the dominant player that he is. He doesn't do anything fancy as he's always in control, but he'll find ways to score and he's a top-level blocker and defender for us. Not only is he a threat offensively and can score versus the best teams in the country, but he demands so much respect from the opposition that he makes players around him better by creating seams and movement in the other team's block.”
Nathan Brown, the lone 4th year Tommie, transitioned from being an outside hitter for the Tommies to being the team’s primary libero this season and did so in sparkling fashion, earning himself the ACAA All-Star libero nod.
“Nathan was put in a tough situation playing a new position this year as we needed a guy to step in the libero position to lead our backcourt and he did it seamlessly. Not only did he lead the ACAA in digs per set, but he rarely put us in tough situation on serve receive with only 12 reception errors all year. His ball control and understanding of the game made us a much better defending team with him on the floor.”
In his first year with the Tommies Dallas Melnick showed what made him such a talked about rookie in the 2019-20 season. He finished 4th in the league in kills per set and 2nd in service aces, behind Christie.
“Each year, we are trying to bring in recruits that can push our returning guys and we definitely got that out of Dallas. After Christian [Christie] and Henry [Doucet], the last two ACAA Rookie of the Year’s, Dallas showed some maturity as a player and helped move our program forward. Not only was he dominant as a rookie, but he was among the best players in our league offensively. He's got the power to compete with the best teams in the country and we are looking forward to what he'll be able to achieve over his career.”
The Tommies will open the ACAA Championships Saturday at 5:00pm against the USA Dragons with a trip to the ACAA Finals on the line. All games can be seen on acaatv.ca.