Sriskandarajah, Vlcek named to Team Ontario team

TORONTO - The Ontario Volleyball Association (OVA) has announced that York Lions women's volleyball players Thinesa Sriskandarajah and Kristina Vlcek were named to Team Ontario for the upcoming Canada Summer Games, which will take place in Prince Edward Island from Aug. 15-29.

Both women were valuable pieces of a Lions team that won its first OUA championship in 12 seasons and finished sixth at the CIS national championship last year.

Sriskandarajah (Scarborough, Ont.) had an outstanding rookie season for the Lions in 2008-09. She ended the year second in the OUA with 3.87 points per game and received the OUA rookie of the year award and York female rookie of the year honours. The six-foot, left side hitter also was named to the CIS and OUA all-rookie teams and the OUA first all-star team.

Vlcek (Toronto) was also a dominant force for the Lions. She saved her best performance of the year for one of the most important games, leading the squad to an OUA semifinal victory over the Western Mustangs as part of the OUA Final Four championship. In that contest she was named York's player of the game after a stunning display that included a game-high 20 points and 10 digs.

The head coach of Team Ontario is Arif Nathoo, who guided the Lions to the OUA championship last season en route to being named OUA coach of the year. Nathoo led York's women's volleyball team for two seasons before stepping down earlier this year to begin coaching his daughter at a younger age group and to concentrate on his full-time job as vice-principal at Thorncliffe Park Public School.

The women's volleyball competition begins on Aug. 24 as part of week-two festivities. Team Ontario is the defending champion of the event, having won the gold medal at the 2005 Canada Summer Games in Regina.

For a complete schedule and results of the 2009 Canada Summer Games, visit www.2009canadagames.ca/en/.

Source:

York Lions