LONDON, Ont. - Women's volleyball libero and purple blanket winner Andrea Ruste was named to Canada's entry in the 2009 Universiade in Belgrade, Serbia.

Following a selection camp in late May, Ruste was among 30 players named for the senior women's indoor A and B national teams. These players will form Canadian teams which will compete at qualification for the world championship in 2010 and competition along with the Universiade, July 1-12. 

"It is a great honor to be chosen to represent Canada at the FISU Games. I am very excited for the opportunity to play at the international level and just see what we can accomplish as a team," said Ruste. "We've got a really talented group of players and I think we have the ability to surprise some people." 

"We have been training really hard over the past month together and we all go into this experience with high hopes and a common goal to perform to our potential," she said. "Obviously, it's going to be a very competitive tournament as we will be competing against some of the best volleyball players in the world, and it will be very interesting to see where we stand." 

Members of the national team group will also be considered for Canada's qualification entry for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London, England. 

Ruste of Edmonton is the reigning CIS libero of the year.

"The FISU games will be such an incredible experience, not only to compete at such a high level against some of the best in the world in volleyball but also to be surrounded by other world-class athletes and cheer on Canada in all the sports that our country is competing in," Ruste said. "I've heard nothing but amazing things about the Games so I'm just looking forward to taking it all in." 

The Canadian squad enters the Belgrade Games looking to make it out of group play for the first time since an eighth-place finish in 2001 in Beijing, China. Since, they have placed 11th in 2003 in South Korea, 12th in 2005 in Turkey and 11th two years ago in Bangkok, Thailand.

Canada’s best result in women’s volleyball at the bi-annual FISU Games remains a pair of fourth positions, in 1983 in Edmonton and in 1997 in Italy.

Ruste is the only player on the squad from an Ontario University Athletics team, and one of 11 CIS players. The list includes six former all-Canadians and an ex-NCAA star who played pro in Finland this past season, Kristina Fabris of Sudbury, Ont.

"First and foremost, the entire team is really proud of Andrea," said Western Mustangs women's volleyball head coach. "She is the perfect representative of our program. She is a good student, a great person and a great volleyball player."

In conjunction with Volleyball Canada, Canadian Interuniversity Sport announced the 12-player roster on Friday June 19 for the 25th Summer Universiade. She is the lone libero.

"Two years ago Andrea and her teammates made a commitment to change the culture of our program (at Western)," Lowrie said. "And as a group, they have been putting in the time and effort to be on the same stage as all the national powerhouses. The wins in league and against Top 10 teams have come and I think we will soon be rewarded with another provincial championship."

"Andrea's selection to the FISU team is very rewarding for her and the program, and shows that if we can get the right people in our program, we can successfully compete at the national level."

For more information on the 2009 Summer Universiade, please visit: www.universiade-belgrade2009.org 

For the Universiade Team Canada website, please visit: www.universitysport.ca/belgrade 

The Canadian women will be in tough from the get go as they open the Universiade tourney on July 2 against China, which captured FISU bronze in 2007 and silver in 2005. Canada then faces Slovenia on July 3 before rounding out Group C play against Taiwan on July 5.

The quarter-finals are set for July 7, the semifinals for July 8, and the bronze and gold-medal games for July 10.

“Only two or three of our players have competed at this kind of international event before,” said Team Canada head coach Olivier Trudel, who heads the University of Montreal program. “While we’d obviously love to go deep into the tournament, our number one objective is to gain some experience and to build on what we’ve worked on thus far this summer.”

“With our team being relatively young from an international perspective, we’ll have to play within our system, play very well as a team in order to have success,” added Trudel, whose assistants in Belgrade will be Trinity Western’s Ryan Hofer and UBC’s Joanne Ross.

“As usual, we expect our two Asian opponents to be very quick, fast-paced teams, while Slovenia will be a typical, very physical Eastern European team,” Trudel offered.

Poland is defending Universiade women’s volleyball champion. Serbia took silver in 2007.

TEAM CANADA ROSTER        
Position             Name                           University            Eligibility *            Hometown                             
Libero               Andrea Ruste                Western          4                      Edmonton, Alta.
Outside             Jocelyn Blair                 Alberta             5                      St. Albert, Alta.
Outside             Kristina Fabris               South Florida  A                     Sudbury, Ont.
Middle              Marisa Field                 UBC                5                      Kelowna, B.C.
Outside             Holly Harper             Calgary             5                      Regina Beach, Sask.
Middle              Dayna Jansen Van Doorn    Trinity Western            5                      Langley, B.C.
Setter               Samantha Loewen            Manitoba          2                      East St.Paul, Man.
Setter               Alexandra Lojen             Montreal          2                      Montreal, Que.
Outside             Marie-Pier Murray-MethotMontreal            4                      Montreal, Que.
Outside             Kyla Richey              UBC                2                      Roberts Creek, B.C.
Outside             Kerri Smit                  Saint Mary’s 2                      Shubenacadie, N.S.
Middle              Laura Spence             Calgary             4                      Calgary, Alta.
* Indicates year of CIS eligibility in 2008-09;
A – Fabris graduated from South Florida in 2008 and played pro in Finland in 2008-09.

Staff
Head coach: Olivier Trudel, University of Montreal, Montreal, Que.
Assistant coach: Ryan Hofer, Trinity Western University, Langley, B.C.
Assistant coach: Joanne Ross, UBC, Vancouver, B.C.
Therapist: Elizabeth Proskurnik, Winnipeg, Man.

CANADA’S SCHEDULE AND DRAW:
July 2 Preliminaries Group C: Canada vs. China
July 3 Preliminaries Group C: Canada vs. Slovenia
July 5 Preliminaries Group C: Canada vs. Taiwan
July 7 Quarter-finals
July 8 Semifinals
July 10 Bronze & Final Games

Group A: Serbia, Italy, Great Britain, Brazil
Group B: Poland, Spain, Turkey, Mongolia
Group C: Canada, China, Taiwan, Slovania
Group D: Thailand, Japan, Russia, Sweden

CANADA’S RESULTS AT RECENT SUMMER UNIVERSIADES:
2007 (Bangkok, Thailand): 11th
2005 (Izmir, Turkey): 12th 
2003 (Daegu, South Korea): 11th
2001 (Beijing, China): 8th

CANADA’S BEST FINISH AT THE SUMMER UNIVERSIADE:
1997 (Sicily, Italy): 4th 
1983 (Edmonton, Canada): 4th

About the Summer Universiade
The Summer Universiade is an international multi-sport event that takes place every two years, and is second only to the Olympic Games in the number of participating athletes and countries. The Universiade is open to competitors between the ages of 17 and 28 in the year of the Games who are full-time students at a post-secondary institution (university, college, CEGEP) or have graduated from a post-secondary institution in the year preceding the event.