Seba Manuel had an outstanding first season with the UBCO Heat and he was recognized for his efforts on Thursday night.
He was named to the U SPORTS All-Rookie team as one of the six best first-year university volleyball players in the country at an awards ceremony in Hamilton.
Manuel is the first ever UBCO male athlete to be recognized by U SPORTS as a member of an All-Rookie or All-Canadian team.
"What Seba accomplished this year was truly special," said Heat head coach Brad Hudson. "Despite two hand surgeries and missing our entire preseason, Seba played and competed at a high level throughout a gruelling Canada West season."
The 6’5” outside hitter, who played his high school volleyball with the KSS Owls, was a force for the Heat in 2022-23.
He started 23 of the team’s 24 games and finished the season with 158 kills and a school record 24 aces, which were both tops among all Canada West rookies.
The health and exercise sciences major also finished second in the conference among rookies with 2.42 points per game and games played at 83, and third in total blocks with 36.
"Our program chose to compete with the youngest roster in our league," added Hudson. "We believed this would be possible because of the strength and maturity in our young men. Seba's leadership, humility, and passion were primary to this and we look forward to sharing the next leg of his journey."
Manuel joins Emily Oxland (2012-13) and Amaya Perry (2019-20) as the only Heat rookies to ever be recognized as members of a U SPORTS All-Rookie team.
If you appreciate what we do, we ask that you consider supporting our local independent news platform.
If you get value from KelownaNow and believe local independent media is important to our community we ask that you please consider subscribing to our daily newsletter.
