TRU’s Gunter,Saint Mary’s Coward honoured [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="333"] Brad Gunter of WolfPack men's volleyball (Andrew Snucins photo)[/caption] Rachelle Coward, a basketball player from Saint Mary’s University, and Brad Gunter, a volleyball player from Thompson Rivers University, are the ArcelorMittal CIS female and male athletes of the week for the period ending Jan. 12, 2014.   Coward, a masters of criminology student in her fourth year of CIS eligibility, had back-to-back 20-plus-point performances as the nationally top-ranked Huskies improved to 10-0 in league play thanks to an 82-73 win over StFX and an 88-51 victory against UPEI. The 6-foot guard from Dartmouth, N.S., opened the two-game set last Friday with 22 points and four rebounds against the X-Women and followed up by posting 20 points and five boards versus the Panthers on Saturday. Coward is currently second in the AUS conference with an average of 18.4 points per contest.  McGill basketball player Mariam Sylla, Brock hockey player Jenna Sosnoski and Saskatchewan volleyball player Kayla Tycholiz were also nominated for the women’s award. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="333"] Gunter in action (Andrew Snucins photo)[/caption] Gunter, a third-year science student from Courtenay, B.C., averaged a remarkable 7.25 kills per set and reached double digits in digs in back-to-back games to lead the WolfPack to a weekend sweep against Brandon, ranked fifth in the country before the doubleheader. The 6-foot-6 right side hitter, who currently leads CIS in both kills (5.5) and points (6.2) per set, racked up 30 kills and 14 digs in a five-set win on Friday and was even more productive in Saturday’s rematch as he amassed 28 kills and 10 digs in a 3-0 victory. Thanks to their successful weekend, the WolfPack (10-4) climbed to fourth place in the national rankings, a program best since they joined CIS in 2005-06. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="333"] Gunter in action last weekend vs Brandon (Andrew Snucins photo)[/caption] Hockey players Cam Critchlow of UNB, Guillaume Asselin of UQTR and Evan Deviller of RMC were the other male nominees.   Female nominees: AUS: Rachelle Coward, basketball, Saint Mary’s (recipient) RSEQ: Mariam Sylla, basketball, McGill OUA: Jenna Sosnoski, hockey, Brock CWUAA: Kayla Tycholiz, volleyball, Saskatchewan   Male nominees: AUS: Cam Critchlow, hockey, UNB RSEQ: Guillaume Asselin, hockey, UQTR OUA: Evan Deviller, hockey, RMC CWUAA: Brad Gunter, volleyball, Thompson Rivers (recipient)   About Canadian Interuniversity Sport   Canadian Interuniversity Sport is the national governing body of university sport in Canada. Every year, 11,000 student-athletes and 700 coaches from 55 universities and four regional associations vie for 21 national championships in 12 different sports. CIS also provides high performance international opportunities for Canadian student-athletes at Winter and Summer Universiades, as well as numerous world university championships. For further information, visit www.cis-sic.ca or follow us on: