MU Renegades Presentation Night 2001

The 2001 Melbourne University Renegades Presentation Night was the first as a truly combined club and was the biggest ever. More than 120 people filled the North Dining Room of the Melbourne University Union Building on Saturday, October 6.

The opening to the night will be spoken about for years as the "Renegades Dancers" (Amir, Jesse, Tung, Dave and Luisa) took to the stage for a beautifully choreographed gala performance. The scene was set for a fantastic night of awards and entertainment hosted by Tene Bond and Jake Avent.

Division 2 Women were the first team awards to be presented. Congratulations to Elin Oman as Most Valuable Player and Caitlin McOmish who received the coach's Most Improved Player. The team had an excellent year, narrowly losing the Grand Final to Cook Islands in five sets.

The club had two Division 2 men's teams this season for the first time and both sides made the finals. For the second team, Bedrich Eckhardt from Tasmania won the Most Valuable Player and Patrick Walta took home the Most Improved Player. The first team won their division in a tight Grand Final against Monash Uni, with Andrew Wharton winning the Most Valuable Player and Richard Ozga was Most Improved Player.

The Division 1 Women had an excellent start to the season, winning their first seven matches, and eventually finishing third. Sarah Tarquinio continued a great tradition of players from Bendigo for the club and won this year's Most Valuable Player while Luisa Fearnside won Most Improved Player.

The Division 1 men's competition had been close all season and the team made it through to the preliminary final. Congratulations to Duy Doan as Most Valuable Player and Nick Lewis as Most Improved Player.

The Honours Women were in the most even division of the 2001 competition, and despite winning nearly half their matches had to settle for seventh place on the ladder. Individually though it was a great season with Sue Mullen winning the league's MVP award. Sue also took out the team's Most Valuable Player and Felicity Brown won Most Improved Player.

The Honours men missed out on a top four finals spot only by percentage. Sacha Wilmann won the Most Valuable Player award for the third straight season (by just one vote this year) and Michael Werner won the Most Improved Player.

King and Queen of Renegades went to Jake Avent and Tene Bond who both hosted the evening with style and humour. Congratulations also to Best New Renegades recipients Halil Sarikaya and Meliz Ortunc both of whom have been great additions to the club.

Thanks to Melbourne University Sport Director Martin Doulton for attending the night and supporting the club throughout what has been a year of fantastic growth.