Three Stars: Vriend, Notice, Holmes earn honours
MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – Men's volleyball student-athlete Max Vriend is the MacEwan Athletics' first star for the second consecutive week after his performance in the final weekend of his university career.
Vriend posted 48 kills in two matches against Thompson Rivers University. His 11th kill of the weekend in the second set on Friday made him just the 24th player in Canada West history to reach 1,000 for his career.
Other stars recognized this week include second star Jake Notice of men's basketball and third star Lauren Holmes of women's volleyball.
It's the fifth time this season Vriend has made the three stars list, following first-star honours on Dec. 3 and Feb. 4, and second star appearances on Nov. 26 and Jan. 7.
Notice is appearing for the first time in 2019-20, while Holmes makes it for the second time, having also been named first star on Jan. 14.
1st STAR: Max Vriend, OH, men's volleyball
Barrhead, AB, fifth-year, Commerce
Max Vriend continued to add to his Canada West-leading kills total with 48 of them in a pair of matches against Thompson Rivers University.
His 11th kill of the weekend – one of a match-high 26 he had on Friday night – was monumental as he became just the 24th player in Canada West history and first Griffin to reach 1,000 career kills.
Vriend added 22 kills in four sets on Saturday to finish his five-year Canada West career with 1,037 kills – 20th all-time. He also finishes with 1,311.0 career points (14th all time) and 327 blocks (12th).
The performance comes a weekend after Vriend broke his own program record with the most kills in a conference match this season – 32 against the UBC-Okanagan Heat.
With the Griffins finished for the 2019-20 season, Vriend is the leader in the clubhouse for the Canada West kills title with 317 – 48 ahead Winnipeg's Daniel Thiessen. He's also in the driver's seat to finish with the best kills/set average as his 4.17 is 0.26 ahead of Trinity Western's Eric Loeppky.
2nd STAR: Jake Notice, W/PG, men's basketball
Bath, UK, fourth-year, Arts
Jake Notice had his best weekend of the season for the MacEwan Griffins, scoring a combined 43 points in a pair of losses to the UNBC Timberwolves in Prince George, B.C.
In Friday's 89-72 defeat, Notice led the Griffins with 18 points, adding four rebounds, three steals and two assists.
In Saturday's 99-80 loss, he was the top scorer for either side, netting 25 points on 9-for-17 shooting, adding five boards, two steals and two assists. Most notably, he had no turnovers.
Notice finishes the season with the third-best points/game average on the Griffins (12.4), second-best steals/game (1.1) and the top assists/game mark (3.0).
Jake Notice compiled 43 points over two games at UNBC in the final weekend of the regular season (Rich Abney photo).
3rd STAR: Lauren Holmes, OH, women's volleyball
Edmonton, AB, fifth-year, Nursing
Lauren Holmes was a catalyst all over the court for the MacEwan Griffins in their weekend split with Thompson Rivers University.
Playing in the final home regular season action of her university career, the fifth-year outside hitter led the Griffins with 28 combined kills, seven blocks, two aces and 23 digs.
She accounted for 33.5 points over the weekend, providing the dominant performance the Griffins needed to become the first Canada West team this season to beat the WolfPack on a Saturday night.
With the result, the Griffins – who have a bye week to finish the season – completed a 17-7 run through the conference that has them in contention to host a playoff game in the opening round.
Holmes wrapped up the season with a team-high 237 kills and accounted for 295.0 points – both top-10 numbers in the conference.
Lauren Holmes led the Griffins with 28 kills, seven blocks, two aces and 23 digs in a weekend split against Thompson Rivers University (Eduardo Perez photo).
