St. Mary’s grad among top
volleyball players in NCAA
By Scott Taylor, USC Photos by Jeremy Wu
Back at St. Mary’s
Academy in
the spring of
2011, anyone
Alicia Ogoms
who followed
Manitoba volleyball kind of expected
Alicia Ogoms to become a star.
After all, she was the top-ranked
high school player in the province. She
was named MVP of the West Winnipeg
Athletic Conference, an All-Manitoba
Team selection and was selected MVP
of the Provincial Championships after
she led St. Mary’s to the MHSAA AAAA
title.
But it’s unlikely anyone thought
she’d be this good.
Last week, Ogoms, the senior middle
blocker of the undefeated University
of Southern California Trojans, was
named the Pac-12 volleyball defensive
player of the week.
She was instrumental in the Trojans’
comeback victory against Stanford.
She posted a career-high nine blocks
to help the Women of Troy finish
with 14.0 total blocks in the match.
She had three of the four blocks that
helped spark USC to an 8-1 lead in
the fourth set, a set the Trojans won,
25-17. Through the two matches,
Ogoms collected 13 kills (1.62 kps) and
hit .423 while leading the Women of
Troy with 14 blocks (1.75 bps) for 20.0
points. In the match against Stanford,
Ogoms had eight kills (.438) with nine
blocks for 12.5 points. Against UCLA,
she tallied five kills and hit .500 with
five blocks.
The 6-foot-4 daughter of former
University of Manitoba basketball
star Joe Ogoms and former University
of Winnipeg basketball star Laura
Kwiatkowski, Alicia is one of the most
outstanding volleyball players in the
NCAA. More importantly, she is one
of the best players on one of the best
teams in all of NCAA volleyball.
The No.2-ranked Women of Troy
(16-0, 4-0 Pac-12) just beat No.
5-ranked Washington Huskies 3-1 (131, 3-1 Pac-12 in a clash of undefeated
16 / sportslife
teams. With Ogoms playing one her
finest matches, the Women of Troy
battled through 27 tie scores in the
fourth set to emerge with the victory.
As a result, they are one of only three
remaining undefeated Division 1
teams in the country. Ogoms matched
career highs with 12 kills and 16.0
points as she hit .375 and led all
players with six blocks (two solo).
Not surprisingly, she’s pretty fired
up about the prospects of this Trojans
team in her final year of eligibility at
USC.
“This has been one of my favorite
teams that I’ve been a part of,” she
said, during an Email interview this
weekend. “We have adapted to our
new system and have executed it
extremely well. I [