Wood named U SPORTS coach of the year, Dean named All-Canadian

HAMILTON – Acadia women’s volleyball head coach Michelle Wood has been named the Marilyn Pomfret Award recipient for 2024 as the U SPORTS women’s volleyball coach of the year.

Announced on Wednesday night as part of the U SPORTS women’s volleyball championship awards ceremony, Wood became only the third AUS coach to receive the award. It had previously been won by Dalhousie’s Rick Scott in 2016-17 and Moncton's Monette Boudreau-Carroll in 2007-08.

"Receiving the coach of the year award doesn’t happen without a great institution that believes in you and supports you through your coaching endeavours," said Wood. "It is a testament to the female coaches and support staff that work alongside me and give everything to this program. And it is a direct reflection of the exceptional student-athletes that commit themselves to greatness. To learn that only two other AUS coaches have received this honour makes it that much more meaningful."

In her 12^th year at Acadia, Wood coached the Axewomen to the program’s first AUS championship on March 5, defeating the Saint Mary’s Huskies 3-0 in the third and final match of the best-of-three AUS championship final series.

“This award speaks volumes to what Michelle has done at Acadia, not only this season, but also what she built over the last number of years to get to the point of winning an AUS championship for the program,” said Acadia athletic director Brian Finniss. “We’re so happy for her to receive this national recognition to cap off the season. We know her and her staff are continuing to work hard this week and we can’t wait to watch the Axewomen in action at a national championship for the first time.” 

Prior to the championship semifinal she was announced as the AUS coach of the year for the second consecutive season and fourth time overall, also winning in the 2017-18 and 2019-20 seasons.

As a team, Acadia led the conference in kills per set (11.86), kills (925), total blocks (163) and points (1,217).

The fourth award allows Wood to pass Dalhousie’s Rick Scott and Saint Mary’s Darren Russell into second place for all-time AUS coach of the year wins. She now sits just one back of Moncton’s Monette Boudreau-Carroll, who won the award a league-best fives times.

Earlier in awards ceremony, Acadia’s Charlotte Dean was named a second team All-Canadian. For Dean this is her first national recognition. She was named a first team AUS all-star this season having previously been named a second team all-star twice.

As setter, Dean led the conference in assists and assists per set with 642 and 8.34 respectively. Amongst setters she also led them in digs with 170, good enough for 2.21 digs per set. Offensively Dean also led all setters in kills with 55.

In the two championship series, Dean finished with 8.78 assists per set and 2.65 digs per set. Amongst setters she also led with 10 kills and four aces.

Acadia faces the Brock Badgers on Friday in their opening match of the U SPORTS women’s volleyball championship hosted by McMaster University. First serve is scheduled for 8 p.m. Eastern.