Zak Hutcheson became the Orestiada Player of the Year on Wednesday. The Akrites have announced the signing of the 27-year-old Canadian winger until the end of this season to bolster their bid to quickly stay in the Men’s Volleyball League.
Hutcheson was competing in Susa, Azerbaijan, which was eliminated by Panathinaikos in the round of 32 of the Challenge Cup.
In detail, the announcement:
“The management of TAA Athlos Orestiada is pleased to announce the start of cooperation with the Canadian athlete Zac Hutsceson, in the context of strengthening the club for the continuation of the Volleyleague championship 2023-2024.
The team’s new acquisition is already in Orestiada and has been officially placed at the disposal of the Romanian coach, Cristian Citigoi, in order to strengthen our team with his competitive skills and experience in this year’s attempt at distinction. This season will be Hutcheson’s ‘maiden’ appearance on the Greek courts and the second outside of Canada, as this year he competed in Susa, Azerbaijan.
Zachary Peter Hutcheson, as is the athlete’s full name, was born on September 17, 1997 in Kingston, Ontario, he is 1.97m tall and plays as a winger. At the age of 16, Hutcheson put aside his soccer shoes and chose to devote himself to volleyball.
After a stellar five-year National Collegiate Championship career with Queen’s University, where as a student-athlete Hutcheson distinguished himself as a U SPORTS First Team All-Canadian, he was named the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Player of the Year, while a two-time recipient of the OUA East Dale Iwanoczko Award of Merit, helping the Gaels capture the OUA Championship in 2018-19 and 2019-20. At the same time, in the last two years he was an assistant coach for the University team.
In the 2020-2021 season, Hutcheson was called up to his country’s national team selections, training at Canada’s national training center in Gatineau, while in 2019 he was selected to represent Canada at the World University Championships held in Naples, Italy. With the Azerbaijan team, he participated in the Challenge Cup this year, where he was eliminated by Panathinaikos in the round of 32.
Our 26-year-old Canadian newly acquired ace, who attacks at 3.55m and blocks his opponents at 3.35m, expressed his satisfaction with his agreement with Athlos and his presence in the Orestiada, saying in his first official statements the following: “I am happy to be here in Greece and now belong to the Orestiadas team! I am excited to compete in a competitive league, like the Greek one, facing excellent athletes and I am ready with my teammates to help the team achieve its goals.
Whenever I join a new league, my goal is always to win, so we will do our best to win every game and hopefully go as far as possible. I know that there are usually two traditionally strong forces in Greece, Olympiacos and Panathinaikos, which are always strong teams. I’m looking forward to my debut in front of the wonderful fans of Orestiada and I hope to see you all at our home game against Olympiakos”.
The administration of TAA Athlos Orestiadas welcomes “Zacharias” to the club’s family and wishes him a season of health and success for him and our team”.
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