Natalie Lukiw

Athlete (2022)

Volleyball

In the snow and cold of winter, Natalie Lukiw was thunder. Her arm swing in volleyball was lightning.

Lukiw led the team in kills, blocks and service aces in her first season with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies. The Canada West conference learned we ain’t seen nothing yet.

Lukiw cratered the court for four years. Hitting was only part of her game. Her defence at the net was suffocating. Although it’s been 24 years since she played for the Huskies, she holds the team record for career blocks. She is still in the Huskies’ top 10 for career kills, aces and points. In high school at Meadow Lake Carpenter, Lukiw won volleyball provincials in Grade 10 and 11 with the Spartanettes. In Grade 12 she scored a double, winning provincials in volleyball and basketball on a team with her younger sister Melany.

After her senior season with the Huskies, Natalie made the national senior team, becoming the first Indigenous female from Saskatchewan to represent Canada in international volleyball. In 1999, she was on the Canadian team that finished fifth in the Pan-American Games in Winnipeg and 10th at the World University Games in Spain.

Lukiw hit the beach. She was on the world pro beach volleyball tour for six years, going to Greece and Italy, China and Japan, Norway and Switzerland. At the World Masters Games in Australia in 2009, Lukiw and Wendy Britton of Saskatoon finished second.

Lukiw has been a volleyball coach and administrator for 15 years, including at the Canada Summer Games and in the North American Indigenous Games.