'Excellence both on and off the court': U of T athlete named Top 8 Academic All-Canadian

The University of Toronto’s Alina Dormann, a fourth-year Varsity Blues volleyball player, has been named a Top 8 Academic All-Canadian for the 2017-18 season.

The elite group, selected by university sports governing body U Sports, will be honoured with the Governor General's Academic All-Canadian Commendation in Ottawa on Jan. 29.

In order to achieve academic all-Canadian status, athletes must maintain an average of 80 per cent or better over the academic year while competing for one – or more – of their university's varsity teams.

“Alina embodies excellence both on and off the court,” said Kristine Drakich, the Varsity Blues' longtime head coach. 

Dormann becomes the 10th Varsity Blues athlete, and the seventh in the past nine years, to earn the recognition since its inception a quarter century ago. She entered the 2017-18 intercollegiate season after spending the summer with the Canadian senior women's national team. She represented Canada at the 2017 FISU Summer Universiade in Taipei and went onto have another dominant season for the Blues on the court.

The Ottawa native led Ontario University Athletics (OUA) with 3.66 kills per set – good for seventh in the nation – and ranked second in the province and fourth nationally with 4.6 points per set through 18 matches. She also topped Toronto in total attacks and serving aces, while ranking second in digs per set and third in blocks per set. Dormann was named the OUA East player of the year for the third consecutive season, while also earning her third career U Sports all-Canadian nod. 

Dormann led U of T to a 15-4 regular season record and notched a season-high 27.5 points as Toronto topped the Guelph Gryphons, 3-2, to advance to their seventh straight OUA final four.  

More impressive, Dormann achieved all of this while pursuing a double major in biology, and health and disease. The Victoria College student has won several academic awards.
 
In addition to her excellence on the court and in the classroom, Dormann makes time to give back to the volleyball community. She volunteered as an assistant coach with the Ontario Volleyball Association during the 2018 Ontario Summer Games and served an assistant coach at Volleyball Position Camp, which trains players in their chosen position. 

Dormann also coaches recreational house league, competitive beach and skills clinics with the Leaside Volleyball Club in Toronto.

“She is an amazing student and athlete,” says Drakich. “Not only has she been an outstanding player, including representing Canada at the FISU Games in 2017 and being named an all-Canadian, but she has also maintained one of the highest grade point averages in the history of our program.”