This year's Volleyball Canada Hall of Fame inductees have been announced, including former Manitoba Bisons national champion, Player of the Year and Olympian Michelle Sawatzky-Koop. 

The VC Hall of Fame includes athletes, builders, coaches, referees or teams who made major contributions to the development of the sport in Canada and beyond. This year, the list consists of five individuals, a mix of builders and athletes.

In some instances, their impact on the game dates back to the 1950s. Others were competing as recently as the 2016 Rio Olympics. But they all have one thing in common: these individuals exemplify the winning Volleyball Canada spirit, leading on and off the court, bettering the sport for all Canadians. They'll be honoured later this year, at a ceremony on June 5th in Ottawa.

In 1987, Sawatzky-Koop led the Steinbach Regional Secondary School Sabres to a AA championship. From there, she just kept on winning. As a setter at the University of Manitoba, she helped the Bisons win three straight CIAU championships, from 1990 to 1993. During that time, she took home National Player of the Year honours twice. 

Michelle had a stellar international career. In the early 1990s, she played for the Canadian junior team and competed at the World Student Games. Sawatzky-Koop joined the senior national women's team in 1995, winning bronze at the Pan American games that year.

At the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Sawatzky-Koop guided the Canadian women to a ninth place finish. In their final game of that tournament, she led the team in a 3-2 win over Peru—the first Olympic win for the women's program.

Sawatzky-Koop is now a motivational speaker and coach. She's been an assistant for the Bisons women's volleyball team for the last three years, helping the team advance to nationals in back to back seasons for the first time in over two decades. She was also named UM's Assistant Coach of the Year a few weeks ago.