Three members of the Brock Badgers women's volleyball team earned provincial recognition from Ontario University Athletics (OUA). 

The conference announced their list of major award winners and all-stars for women's volleyball on Wednesday, March 4. 

Mackenna Knox led the way, earning First Team All-Star honours, while Emily Foest was named a Second Team All-Star and Emma Baruchelli was selected as a Third Team All-Star. 

Knox, a third-year setter, received her first career OUA First Team All-Star nod after being named to the Second Team during the 2024-25 season.

"Mackenna has really come into her own this year," said head coach Steve Delaney. "Her deception and versatility as a setter have been key to our success and her athleticism is top-notch, which gets us out of sticky situations."

The Teacher Education major led the Badgers to finish as the No. 4 ranked team in the country and the overall No. 1 seed in the OUA. Knox finished second in the conference and fifth in the country with 8.97 assists per set, while also finishing fifth in the OUA with 565 total assists. The Burlington, Ont., native set a career-high in digs this season, tallying 18 on Jan. 10 against the Nipissing Lakers, while her season-high 56 assists in a 3-2 win over the Western Mustangs on Oct. 31 was two away from a career best.

Foest received an OUA Second Team All-Star selection, adding to a list of accolades that includes First-Team honours in 2023-24 and Third Team recognition in 2024-25.

"Emily has been a cornerstone of our program since her first year," Delaney said. "This year, she had to step into a role of taking big swings in big moments and she has delivered."

The Master of Science student finished the season with 204 total kills to rank ninth in the province, while her 242.5 total points and 2.91 kills per set placed her 10th. Foest also provided a strong presence from the service line, tallying 29 total service aces, which positioned her ninth in the OUA. The local Fonthill product tallied double-digit points in 14 of the 20 games she played and recorded a season-high 20 points in a 3-2 season-opening win over the Queen's Gaels on Oct. 24.

Rounding out the list is third-year middle Emma Baruchelli, who earned an OUA Third Team All-Star nod for the first time in her career, after being named to the OUA All-Rookie Team in 2023-2024. 

"It's great to see Emma get some recognition," Delaney said. " She sacrifices so much being so far away from home. She's come a long way since her first year and I'm so happy for her and the way she has performed this season."

Hailing from Trento, Italy, Baruchelli helped spark an offence by providing consistent performances across the season. The Kinesiology major finished seventh in the OUA with a .312 hitting percentage, while her 0.83 blocks per set and 54 total blocks ranked 10th and 12th in the province, respectively. Baruchelli's presence at the net was on display as she tied her career-high seven blocks during a 3-1 victory over the Queen's Gaels in the OUA semifinals on Feb. 27. 



The complete list of 2025-26 OUA women's volleyball award winners and all-stars is as follows:

MAJOR AWARDS
Player of the Year - Oceane Raymond-Leduc, Nipissing University
Rookie of the Year - Marina Gustke, University of Toronto
Coach of the Year - Natasha Spalding, University of Guelph
Champion of EDI Award - Maddy Lutes, McMaster University
Therese Quigley Award - Abby Delamere, McMaster University

FIRST TEAM ALL-STARS

SECOND TEAM ALL-STARS

THIRD TEAM ALL-STARS

ALL-ROOKIE TEAM