Samantha Zacharias Honoured as 2016-17 Women's Volleyball Player of the Year
LLOYDMINSTER, AB. (Feb. 22, 2017) – The Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) is pleased to announce Samantha Zacharias of the Briercrest College Clippers has been selected as the 2016-17 ACAC Women's Volleyball Player of the Year for a third consecutive year.
The outside hitter's performance was a huge part in leading Briercrest to their best regular season since joining the ACAC in 1996 (20-4 in league play, second place in the ACAC South and ranked 8th in the CCAA). She led the CCAA in kills with 347, service aces with 99, and points with 459.5.
Zacharias reached 1,041 total career kills this year, making her the third women's volleyball player in ACAC history to reach 1,000 in a career. She also broke her own ACAC record for most service aces in a single season (set in 2014-15) with an outstanding total of 99 service aces this season.
"Sam has been a dominant force for us all season long, but especially in this second half of the season," said Clippers Head Coach, Nolan Weinmaster. "She has taken her leadership and execution to another level, to lead our team through the adversity of losing one of the top scorers in the league to injury. Sam's continued growth as a person of character, as a leader, and in her relationship with Jesus is a delight to witness and it is awesome to see how she is never satisfied, but always striving to get better. She has again realized more of her potential in each aspect of her game this season. The records she sets and the success she has are just a bonus outcome to the investment she makes in her process of getting better each day as a person and a player, and allowing God to work in her life to shape her into the person He wants her to be!"
Zacharias is a fourth year BA Business Administration student. She is originally from Waldheim, SK, but now calls Caronport, SK home. This is the third straight year that she has been named ACAC Women's Volleyball Player of the Year, and was also named CCAA Women's Volleyball Player of the Year in 2014-15.
This prestigious award was presented to Zacharias at the 2017 ACAC Women's Volleyball Championship Banquet held on February 22nd at Lakeland College. Zacharias will now represent the ACAC in the CCAA Player of the Year selection process.
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About the ACAC: The ACAC is the governing body for intercollegiate athletics in Alberta. Its mission is to provide competitive collegiate sport experiences, promote academic achievement and be a leader of sport development in Canada.
For more information on the ACAC, please visit our website: www.acac.ab.ca
For additional information, contact:
Nigel Mullan, Briercrest Mark Kosak, ACAC
Athletic Director Chief Executive Officer
306-631-0337 403-875-7329
nmullan@briercrest.ca markk@acac.ab.ca
Twitter: @acac_sport #ACACWVB2017
Facebook: AlbertaCollegesAthleticConference