Fresh off her MVP performance at last weekend's Red Serge Classic tournament in Port Coquitlam, Mallory Sall of the Riverside Rapids inked a letter of intent to play the next university women's volleyball season with the Minot State Beavers of North Dakota, it was announced Wednesday.
Minot State head coach Travis Ward, who was hired in April, signed four players to join the team for the 2011 season, butSall marks the first player the Beavers have signed during the NCAA Division II early signing period.
"We are still playing catch up, but we feel that Mallory is one of the best players out of British Columbia," Ward said in a press release. "We feel she will come in and have success right away in our program and wish her continued success in her final (high school) season."
The power hitter Sall has garnered multiple honours throughout her prep career. "We are excited for her to be the first of the 2012 class," said Ward. "She will make our program better right away."
The Beavers enter the final week of play with a solid 16-14 overall record. MSU is in the third year of a four-year transition from NAIA to NCAA Div. 2 and will begin play in the tough Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference in the 2012-13 school year.
SFU AWARDS
Archbhishop Carney high school grads Carlo Basso and Anthony DiNicolo, along with Port Moody's Kelsey Atherley, all received Great Northwest Athletic Conference individual honours this season with their Simon Fraser Clan university soccer teams.
Basso of Coquitlam was named co-winner of the GNAC player of the year award in NCAA Div. 2 men's soccer along with Tyler Schultz of Seattle Pacific University.
Basso banged in a goal to help SFU secure a 2-1 win Sunday over Fort Hays State in South Dakota as the Clan finished their 2011 season at 18-0-1, marking the first time the Clan have finished unbeaten.
"Obviously, an individual honour like this feels good but the real success this season was the team going undefeated," said the sophomore Basso, who finished with a conference-high 16 goals in 19 games.
The senior DiNicolo, meanwhile, was named to the GNAC's All-Academic team after garnering a 3.44 grade point average while pursuing a degree in engineering.
"It takes time and commitment to be successful," Maple Ridge's DiNicolo said. "It's great that we were so successful on the field this season and to be recognized for my hard work in the classroom makes [it] mean that much more."
A freshman defender, Atherley was chosen to the All-Conference second team after toiling in 16 games for SFU this campaign, including starting in 13 of those.
"This is an amazing honour," Atherley said. "My teammates and coaches pushed me all season and helped me improve my game so I could compete at this level."
UBC TOP GUN
Port Moody's Janine Frazao was selected the Canada West women's soccer player of the year, it was announced earlier this week. Frazao, a 20-year-old Heritage Woods high school grad, notched a league-best 16 goals in 14 games to lead UBC to the final four in their conference.
SWIMMER SHINES
Coquitlam's Kristine Lawson tallied 36 points -- second highest on her women's squad -- to rally the SFU varsity swim team to win their own Clan Cup International meet with a 343 total. The meet also featured swimmers from China and Japan.
