KHALIL WINS OUA AWARD, DAKIC EARNS ALL-ROOKIE STATUS

York University Lions men’s volleyball player Karim Khalil was named the recipient of the OUA’s Dale Iwanoczko Sportsman Award on Wednesday (Feb. 22), while teammate Marko Dakic earned a place on the OUA’s all-rookie team.

Khalil, a fourth-year outside hitter from Mississauga, Ont., and the team’s captain, is a standout on the court, in the classroom and in his community. He is the first Lion to earn the award since Mingo Manuel in 2003.

With the Lions he finished fourth in team scoring, with 2.4 points per set, and was also fourth in digs with 1.5 per set, while leading a young Lions squad back to the playoffs for the first time since 2007.

In the classroom, the kinesiology and health science student earned an A average to earn academic all-Canadian honours for the first time, and was awarded York’s Stuart G. Robbins Award as the student-athlete with the highest grade point average among all sport excellence award winners. He is now serving as the team’s academic mentor.

Khalil is also the team’s representative on the York Sport Council and at two recent university-wide academic/athletic award ceremonies with top-ranked university officials, he was asked by the administration to give the thank you address to the assembly on behalf of all student-athletes.

Away from York, Khalil is a coach and mentor for the Champions League program with the Pakmen Volleyball Club, serving as a coach for newly immigrant children in one of the largest and most ethnically diverse volleyball clubs in Canada.

“Karim is one of the few student-athletes that comes into the CIS with no previous club or provincial team experience, but he has made tremendous strides as a student-athlete and he brings honour not only to himself but to the team and the University,” said head coach Wally Dyba. “This is the second year he has been captain and, despite the team’s struggles on the court, he has persevered and has provided the leadership the team needed to develop and become a playoff team once again. He is the type of student-athlete that makes coaching such a wonderful profession and I know he will continue to be a winner in life.”

Dakic, a first-year outside hitter from Mississauga, Ont., played a significant role off the bench for the Lions and often came up with big points late in matches. He finished his first season with 1.3 points per set, including 40 kills and 14 blocks.

Major Award Winners
Player of the Year – Joren Zeeman (Queen’s)
Rookie of the Year – Alex Elliott (McMaster)
Libero of the Year – Niko Rukavina (Queen’s)
Dale Iwaniczko – Karim Khalil (York)
Coach of the Year – Jim Sage (Western)

First-Team All-Star
Joren Zeeman (Queen’s)
Phil James (Western)
Kyle Williamson (Windsor)
Garrett May (Western)
Fiodar Kazhamiaka (Waterloo)
Winston Rosser (Guelph)
Matt Poulin (Western)

Second-Team All-Star
Jeremy Groenveld (McMaster)
Michael Amoroso (Queen’s)
Kevin Stevens (McMaster)
Cameron Wheelan (Waterloo)
Jori Mantha (McMaster)
Niko Rukavina (Queen’s)
Matt Waite (Western)

All-Rookie Team
Alex Elliott (McMaster)
Erich Woolley (Waterloo)
Daniel Groenveld (McMaster)
Alex Dawson (Ryerson)
Trevor Grant (Toronto)
Steven Khuu (Toronto)
Marko Dakic (York)