CIS athletes of the week (#20): Brock’s Levitt, UNB’s Fernandez honoured

OTTAWA (CIS) – Rebecca Levitt, a wrestler from Brock University, and Julio Fernandez, a volleyball player from the University of New Brunswick, are the CIS female and male athletes of the week for the period ending Feb. 17, 2013.

Levitt, a fourth-year health and sciences student from North York, Ont., captured individual gold in the 72-kilogram weight class and led the Badger women to their sixth straight OUA team title at the conference championships held in St. Catharines, Ont. The 21-year-old senior dominated her opponents by a combined score of 32-1 en route to a perfect 3-0 record, including victories over Laurentian’s Samantha Demers (6-0, 6-0), Toronto’s Grace Bannerman (7-0, 7-0) and Lakehead’s Kelsey Dayler (4-1, 2-0). Levitt hopes to improve from her fourth-place finish from a year ago at next week’s CIS championships in London, Ont. (March 1-2), where Brock will attempt to successfully defend the women’s team banner.

Dalhousie volleyball player Maggie Li, Montreal volleyball player Marie-Sophie Nadeau and UBC hockey player Danielle Dube were also nominated for the women’s award.

Fernandez, a fourth-year business administration student from Los Teques, Venezuela, was named MVP of the AUS playoffs after he led the Varsity Reds to their second conference title in three seasons thanks to a pair of 3-1 wins over archrival Dalhousie. The 6-foot-2 outside hitter tallied 13 kills, eight digs and two blocks in last Friday’s series opener in Halifax and then thrilled a record crowd of 1,100 at the Richard J. Currie Center in Fredericton on Sunday with a match-high 18 kills, to go with five digs, two blocks and a service ace. The reigning two-time AUS MVP and the V-Reds advance to next week’s CIS championship in Quebec City (March 1-3).

UQTR hockey player Olivier Donovan, McMaster wrestler Jason Buckle and Manitoba hockey player Tyler Dittmer were the other male nominees.

Female nominees:
AUS: Maggie Li, volleyball, Dalhousie
RSEQ: Marie-Sophie Nadeau, volleyball, Montreal
OUA: Rebecca Levitt, wrestling, Brock (recipient)
CWUAA: Danielle Dube, hockey, UBC

Male nominees:
AUS: Julio Fernandez, volleyball, UNB (recipient)
RSEQ: Olivier Donovan, hockey, UQTR
OUA: Jason Buckle, wrestling, McMaster
CWUAA: Tyler Dittmer, hockey, Manitoba

-CIS-