Women's Volleyball News
Rural Standout Reaching for New Heights with Blazers WVB
The CMU Women's Volleyball program is very pleased to announce the commitment of Kiera Haney for the 2023-24 MCAC season. The Major Pratt School and North American Indigenous Games Team Manitoba product has seen her game soar to new heights in recent months.
Hailing from Binscarth, Manitoba, a small community south of Russell where Haney played her high school and club volleyball, the 5'7" outside hitter has made a career of leading her underdog squads into big game situations. Haney competed for the Major Pratt Trojans throughout her junior varsity and varsity high school seasons, when the MHSAA "AA" school routinely punched above their weight class in competitions across the province. Since a bronze medal finish at "AA" Provincials in her first season of junior varsity, her Trojans have gone on to win back-to-back provincial titles following her COVID-cancelled grade ten season. Haney's varsity squads entered those provincial championships with a formidable record of finishes at tournaments across Manitoba, proving that those big championship wins were not a fluke. In her grade 11 year, Haney's Trojans attended ten tournaments and took home the title in an incredible eight of them, with the remaining two playing to second place finishes. Her play earned her a player of the game award in the provincial championships, and she was recognized as the most improved player on the team at the season's end. This past season Haney co-captained her Major Pratt team to another incredible feat of nine tourament wins including the aforementioned second consecutive provincial championship title, and also proved that the team could hang in with the best at the "AAA" and "AAAA" level, finishing top four in Niverville's "AAA" tournament, and top four in the Spartan Dig tournament in Brandon, which brings together "AAA" and "AAAA" teams in Manitoba. The Trojans also played to a second place finish in Regina, at a tournament with 32 teams competing. Haney was once again recognized as a player of the game at MHSAA Provincials, and earned herself a graduating all-star nod.
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Blazers Hand Out Hardware at the 2023 Green & Gold Banquet
Blazers Athletics celebrated the 2022/23 season at their annual Green & Gold Banquet held in the Great Hall at Canadian Mennonite University this past Tuesday, handing out awards for academics, athletic excellence, and good works, while sharing stories of the season's successes on and off the field of play.
This year the Blazers took home one MCAC Championship, that being the women's basketball team's fifth consecutive provincial title, and the team went on to a finals appearance at the NIAC Championships a week later. All eight Blazer teams, including women's and men's futsal made final four appearances at MCAC Championships, with both the men's volleyball and basketball teams making finals as well. The Blazers men's volleyball team peaked at the eighth spot in the CCAA National Volleyball Rankings in mid-February; the highest ranking an MCAC team has achieved in the conference's history thus far over its two years of full participation in the CCAA.
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Highly Touted Haelen Hanna Adds Talent and Tenacity to Blazers WVB
The CMU Women's Volleyball program is very pleased to announce the commitment of Haelen Hanna for the 2023-24 MCAC season. The Dakota Collegiate and Manitoba Provincial 18U Team product is projected to bring tenacity on defence and a strong leadership potential to the Blazers' squad this year.
Hanna joins the Blazers with strong references from all of her recent high school and club coaches, under whom she has developed into a premier-level libero in the province. Coming out of the strong volleyball program at Dakota Collegiate Hanna joins 2022-23 women's volleyball addition Julia Sawatzky as the most recent Lancers to make to switch from black and gold to the green and gold of CMU. In her final year of high school play Hanna was named an MHSAA Graduating All-Star, and a "AAAA" Divisional Finals Player of the game en route to their run at the Manitoba Provincial Championships. Her high school coach, Kelly Bowen, speaks of Hanna very highly stating "aside from her skill and athletic ability, Haelen is dedicated, focused, prepared, and passionate. Her work ethic is extraordinary on and off the court, and in this, she leads our team by example." Ryan Hudson, Athletic Director at Dakota Collegiate and himself a volleyball coach adds "of the many hundreds of athletes who I have coached and worked with, she is at the top of the list for her willingness to give elite effort and strive each day to be her best. She seeks out the challenge of being the one counted on in important moments, and she consistently excels in high-pressure situations."
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Blazers Women's Volleyball Get Setup for 2023/24 with Addition of Stewner
The CMU Women's Volleyball program is very pleased to announce the commitment of Chelsea Stewner for the 2023/24 MCAC season. The Sturgeon Heights Collegiate and Bandits Volleyball Club product will add some more top-level talent at the setter position for the Blazers.
Stewner will continue her volleyball journey at CMU after a very successful high school season, when she and her Sturgeon Heights Huskies teammates won the MHSAA "AAAA" Varsity Girls Provincials in December, a thrilling five-set victory that saw the team come back from being down 0-2 to triumph over the Vincent Massey Trojans at the University of Manitoba's IGAC. Her performance during the championships earned Stewner Provincial All-Star recognition, to go along with a Graduation All-Star nomination. The co-captain of the Huskies also landed in the Free Press Top 10 in Manitoba for 2022, which is a testament to both the talent and leadership abilities she will be bringing to her new squad.
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Brooklyn De Jong: February's Zueike Female Athlete of the Month
Congratulations to Brooklyn De Jong of Women's Volleyball on being selected the CMU Zueike Female Athlete of the Month for February. The third year middle was a consistent force in the Blazers' front court during the home stretch of the season.
Although the season has now wrapped up, Blazers Women's Volleyball had a strong finish to their regular season with wins in two of their final three league games, including a straight-sets victory over the eventual MCAC Champions St Boniface Les Rouges. The team won nine sets and lost only six throughout their regular season games in February and their most veteran player and captain Brooklyn De Jong was a big part of that late-season success.
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