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Former MHC Volleyball player guilty of sexual assault played for UofS while facing charges

May 17, 2018 | 6:47 PM

SASKATOON, SK – The University of Saskatchewan has fired the Head Coach of the men’s volleyball team after one of its player was sentenced on a sexual assault charge in Medicine Hat.  

Matthew Meyer pleaded guilty to sexual assault on Tuesday in a Medicine Hat Court of Queen’s bench. He was sentenced to two years in jail and three years of probation.

The sexual assault occurred while Meyer was attending Medicine Hat College and playing volleyball for the Rattlers.

According to an article from the Prince Albert Daily Herald, that was published on May 15th, Huskie Men’s Volleyball Coach Brian Gavlas was aware Meyer was facing the charge when recruiting the student.

“I was aware of the charge, yes. I wasn’t aware of what was happening,” the Daily Herald quotes Galvas as saying. “We had talked briefly about the situation. We didn’t go into a lot of detail.”

“From my perspective as a coach and as a father, I thought being involved with our team and our program would be best at this particular stage in his life.” the article from the Saskatchewan newspaper quotes.

Meyer was recruited by the University to play in the 2017-2018 season, which wrapped up in February.

In a statement the University said it became aware of the criminal conviction on May 15, 2018.

The University said it takes the matter seriously.

“This behaviour is unacceptable and not tolerated at the University of Saskatchewan. We are committed to providing a safe campus environment. The situation raised significant concerns as to how the player was allowed to become a Huskie athlete.” read the statement issued Thursday.

The University said it started investigating the matter immediately and Meyer was removed from the team. Meyer’s player biography has been removed from the Huskies website.

The University fired Gavlas, on Thursday, but the statement did not specifically say if it was related to the recruitment of meyer.

The University says it is launching a review to examine the screening and recruitment process as well as policies related to the conduct employees.

Huskie Athletics will begin the process to identify a new head coach in the coming weeks.