Julia Sawatzky: November's Zueike Female Athlete of the Month
Congratulations to Julia Sawatzky of Blazers Women's Volleyball on being selected the CMU Zueike Female Athlete of the Month for November. The second year outside hitter has stepped up in a big way to start the season for the Blazers.
Sawatzky showed flashes of brilliance last year for CMU in her rookie season, when she featured primarily on the right side, but the Dakota Collegiate product has worked hard to round out her game and has been used as part of a left side attacking tandem for the green and gold this season, giving her more opportunity to shine. At the end of league play for the first half of the season, Sawatzky is the first and only MCAC attacker thus far to tally 100 kills, and currently leads the league leaderboard in that category. Not only does she rank highly in total kills, but her efficiency stats also land her top three in the conference, meaning she is among the league's best in converting attacking opportunities to kills. It's not surprising then that Sawatzky has had a number of monster offensive games this semester, but has also shown incredible consistency, leading the Blazers in kills in eight of the team's nine games this half.
The final weekend of November was a particularly strong one for the local Winnipeg product, who tallied a game-high 16 kills against the Assiniboine Cougars on Friday night, and then followed it with a game-high 20 kill performance on Saturday afternoon as her team battled to two tough five-set losses in Brandon.
CMU Women's Volleyball head coach Jayme Menzies has seen her rising star blossom before her eyes this year, and has been singing her praises all semester, stating "in only her second year, Julia plays an important leadership role for our team, on and off the court. This month during our league play, her reliable serve receive, disciplined defence, and powerful attack have been hugely impactful in our successes. This fierce competitor also manages to keep it fun!"
Halfway through the MCAC volleyball schedule, the Blazers sit in third place in the standings, but have had to go up against the undefeated Providence Pilots four times already this season. The second half schedule sees the team match up with the Cougars four more times, who sit just above the Blazers in the standings, and are a likely first round matchup for CMU when the MCAC Championships begin February 24th. The winner of this year's title will earn a place at the 2024 CCAA National Championships held this year March 6-9 in Red Deer, Alberta.
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