O’Brien named MVP
Truro’s Kristen O’Brien, of the Dalhousie Tigers, was named the Atlantic University Sport most valuable player for men’s volleyball on the weekend.
Fifth-year Dalhousie Tigers outside hitter Kristen O’Brien has been named the 2016-17 Atlantic University Sport most valuable player.
The Truro native was among those earning recognition Saturday, following Game 2 of the Subway AUS Men’s Volleyball Championship best-of-three series. The UNB Varsity Reds (9-8) completed a two-game sweep of the Tigers (11-6) to claim the 2017 championship title.
Adam Sandeson, of Lower Truro and a fourth year player with the Tigers joined O’Brien in being selected to the 2016-17 all-star team.
O’Brien led the Tigers to an 11-6 regular season record this year, clinching first place in the conference standings.
“Kristen has been our leader on and off the court all season,” said Tigers head coach Dan Ota, who was named coach of the year. “He’s really stepped up his performance on the court and had his best season statistically and has consistently been our best player in most of our matches.”
The 6-ft. 5-in. kinesiology student accumulated 254.5 total points this season while averaging 4.0 points per set.
He averaged 3.22 kills per set, earning a total of 203 kills all season with a .286 hitting percentage.
O’Brien also had 67 blocks, averaging 1.06 per set, and added 97 digs this season.
“Off the court, I’ve challenged him to be a better leader and he has really delivered on that front as well,” said Ota. “We have a lot of young players this season and the significant growth of our team since September is due in large part to Kristen’s contributions. Kristen has embraced all the challenges in front of him and has made his biggest impact in his final season with our program.”
This year marks the third consecutive season O’Brien has been named to the AUS all-star team.
He now looks to become the first Atlantic conference player to be named U Sports player of the year.
The Varsity Reds now advance to the U Sports FOG Men’s Volleyball Championship being hosted by the University of Alberta in Edmonton, March 17-19.