Men's Volleyball | 3/28/2025 10:00:00 AM
After coming within a win of making the U SPORTS championship for the first time in a decade, two members of the York University Lions men's volleyball team earned some national recognition.
Dennis Cota, a third-year middle blocker, was named a second team all-Canadian, while OUA rookie of the year Chris Hoffman cracked the U SPORTS all-rookie squad.
Cota, who has earned conference all-star nominations in his first three seasons – first as an all-rookie, then a second team all-star followed by a first teamer – becomes the first York player to achieve all-Canadian status in eight years. He is the first Lion to do so since Alex Duncan-Thibault was a first teamer back in 2016-17, joining a list of 11 other York players to be an all-Canadian (either first or second team). The Mississauga, Ont., native finished third in the country in total blocks (78) and seventh in blocks per set (1.05). Showing himself to be one of the top two-way players in his conference, Cota's 109 ranked third on the team and fourth in the OUA among middles. He has finished with 100+ kills in each of the last two seasons, becoming the first Lions middle blocker to do so since the aforementioned Duncan-Thibault in 2015-16 and 2016-17.
Hoffman, who in addition to his rookie of the year award was also an OUA all-rookie, now sees himself among the national rookie-only roster, becoming the first Lion to be a U SPORTS all-rookie since 2014-15 U SPORTS rookie of the year Josh Henderson. The psychology student finished second on the team in kills with 165, which was good for 50th in the country. His 2.39 kills per set were tied for second on the team and slotted him tied for 24th in the OUA and tied for 56th in U SPORTS. The Uxbridge, Ont., native posted his best performance of the year on Feb. 8 when he put up 16 kills and just three errors on 40 total attacks in a win over the Brock Badgers. Hoffman was named York men's athlete of the week after amassing 19 combined kills over a pair of games against the TMU Bold to close the regular season.
