 |  |
Oliveira Honored As CUNYAC/EmblemHealth Player of the Year
FLUSHING, NY – It has been a thrilling month of March for Baruch College senior men's volleyball player PABLO OLIVEIRA, as he has dominated on the court winning the AVCA National and NECVA Player of the Week twice during this span. The newly crowned 2011 CUNY Athletic Conference / EmblemHealth Player of the Year has flourished with absence of fellow 2010 AVCA All-American ERYK KOWALSKI, who is expected back after missing the last three weeks due to injury.
“It is very exciting to win this award, and I am glad all the hard work has been paying off. I would like to thank my coaches, assistants and teammates for all their support and encouragement. As a senior, it has been a truly exciting season, and hopefully, the best is yet to come,” claimed the senior outside hitter, referring the CUNYAC / EmblemHealth Championship, which concludes on Friday night at Baruch with the semifinals and championship match (8:00 pm).
Oliveira (Uberlandia, Brazil) became the first player in NCAA Division III history last week to collect 40 kills in a match since the format has been changed to a 25-point game score. Due to this recent dominance, he is a serious candidate for National Division III Player of the Year, an accomplishment never achieved in the 25-year history of a CUNYAC Men's Volleyball.
“Pablo is playing the best volleyball of his career," said head coach ALLISON STACK. His passing, defense and blocking has really improved and he has been a constant force for us all season. He is the go-to player on this team and is very worthy of this award.”
The Bearcats (28-12 overall, 14-0 CUNYAC) are the two-time defending champions of the event and is currently ranked 8th in the National poll by the AVCA, so it comes as no surprise that Stack was named CUNYAC Coach of the Year by her peers for the second straight season.
The rest of the individual awards were handed out to individuals on three different teams, as York's AHMED HELMI was named Rookie of the Year; Brooklyn defensive specialist TIMOTHY HUI was named Libero of the Year and KRISTOFFER MORRISON of Medgar Evers earned praise from the coaches with the Sportsmanship Award.
"Ahmed is one of the toughest, most competitive freshmen I've coached," said Cardinals head coach ANDRE TITUS. "He is every coaches dream freshman. His tall but powerful, digs, hit, block, serve great and knows the game."
2011 CUNYAC / Emblem Health Men’s Volleyball
All-Stars
Player of the Year: Pablo Oliveira, Baruch College
(Senior/Outside Hitter)
Rookie of the Year: Ahmed Helmi, York Colllege (Freshman/Outside Hitter)
Libero of the Year: Timothy Hui, Brooklyn College (Freshman/Libero)
Coach of the Year: Allison Stack, Baruch College
Sportsmanship Award: Kristoffer Morrison, Medgar
Evers College (Senior/Outside Hitter)
First Team
Eric Barty, Hunter (Junior/Outside Hitter)
Jesus Echaverria, Baruch (Sophomore/Setter)
John Gemegah, Hunter (Sophomore/Middle Blocker)
Eryk Kowalski, Baruch (Senior/Right Side Hitter)
R. J. LeBlanc, Lehman (Senior/Opposite Hitter)
Braien Otsla, Hunter (Sophomore/Middle Blocker)
Second
Team
Alex Niles, York (Senior/Middle Hitter)
Vincent Cruz, Baruch (Junior/Middle Blocker)
Nate Martin, Lehman (Senior/Setter)
Matthew Ng, CCNY (Sophomore/Outside Hitter)
Marcin Polak, Hunter (Senior/Opposite Hitter)
Alexander Shlivko, Brooklyn (Sophomore/Outside Hitter)
The matchups for Friday, March 25, 2011 @ Baruch
College
4:00 pm - #2 Hunter vs. #3 Lehman (Semifinal 1)
6:00 pm - #1 Baruch vs. #4 York (Semifinal 2)
8:00 pm - CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
