Fresh off of a national championship run with the Manitoba Bisons where she was named Tournament MVP, veteran outside hitter Raya Surinx is set to take another massive step as she debuts for Canada's Senior National Team.

Surinx will suit up for Team Canada as they take on top senior national teams from Japan, Netherlands, Serbia, Dominican Republic and Bulgaria as part of the first leg of the Volleyball Nations League, which begins tomorrow in Ottawa.

The only student-athlete in school history to earn major national award recognition in each of her first three years (Rookie of the Year in 2023, back-to-back Player of the Year in 2024 and 2025), Surinx has prior experience for Canada, having donned the red and white each of the last two years as part of the Next Gen program (an entry point for any athlete wanting to represent Canada on the world stage, and key to the future success of the women's program).

"We are so proud to see that Raya has been named to the Senior National VNL Team for their competition in Ottawa," said legendary head coach Ken Bentley. "Raya continues to build on her exceptional play at the U SPORTS National Championship back in March, to her time now with the national team. We are excited to see her play!"

Surinx enters the 2025-26 campaign approaching history. She is just 72 career kills away from tying Rachel Cockrell for the program record in the rally scoring era, with 1,390. She is also just 193 regular season kills shy of Cockrell's rally scoring era record for 1,174. Surinx's 1,318 career kills, and 981 regular season kills both currently rank sixth all-time in any era of the program.