Washington U. Volleyball Has Five Student-Athletes Earn 2010 UAA Accolades
ALL-UAA RELEASE
St. Louis, Mo., November 9, 2010 – The No. 3 Washington University in St. Louis volleyball team had five student-athletes earn 2010 All-University Athletic Association (UAA) accolades, as announced Tuesday by the Association.
Headlining their 2010 honorees were three first-team all-UAA selections, freshman outside hitter Meghan Byrne, sophomore setter Marilee Fisher and sophomore libero Kelly Pang.
Junior middle hitter Lauren Budde earned second-team accolades and sophomore outside hitter Drew Hargrave was named honorable mention all-UAA. Additionally, Byrne was tabbed as the 2010 UAA Rookie of the Year.
Washington University finished second at the UAA Championship, held last weekend on the campus of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. The Bears were 8-3 overall in conference matches and fell to Emory University, 3-1, in the UAA championship match.
Byrne is just the second student-athlete in school history to earn UAA Rookie of the Year honors, and the first to do so since Emilie Walk in 2004. She is turning in an incredible inaugural-season for the Bears, ranking first on the team in kills (358) and hitting percentage (.360). In UAA matches Byrne tallied a team-best 144 kills, an average of 3.35 per set, while hitting .367, and recorded her season-high of 20 kills against Emory in the UAA final.
Pang repeats as a first-team all-UAA honoree after another tremendous season leading the Bears’ ball control unit. The sophomore libero leads Washington University with 462 digs, an average of 5.37 per set, and has also compiled 26 aces on the year. Pang ranks first in the UAA and 41st in the nation in digs per set.
Fisher was a second-team all-UAA and second team American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-American as a freshman in 2009, and earns first-team all-conference honors for the first time in her career. After leading Division III in assists per set a year ago, she is on pace to repeat as the Division III statistical champion, ranking second in the nation with 11.6 assists per set in 2010. Fisher has compiled 1,067 assists this year, and orchestrates a Washington University offensive attack that boasts a .284 hitting percentage, one of the best in the nation.
A six-rotation middle hitter, Budde does it all for Washington University. She earns UAA all-conference accolades for the second time in her career, garnering first-team honors last season. Budde ranks first on the team in total blocks (88) and service aces (41) and second in kills (352) and digs (300). She has tallied a team-high 15 double-doubles this season, and notched a triple-double with a 13 kills, 11 dig, 10 block performance against Dominican University on Oct. 29.
Hargrave is a first-time all-UAA honoree after dominating on the outside for Washington University throughout the season. She ranks second on the team with a .322 hitting percentage and third with 334 kills, an average of 3.15 per set, the eighth-best mark in the UAA. Hargrave has reached double-digit kills on 16 occasions in 2010, and notched a career-best 18 kills against Hanover College in a 3-0 win on Oct. 30.
The Bears will compete in the NCAA Midwest Regional, hosted Friday-Sunday, Nov. 12-14, on the campus of Carthage College in Kenosha, Wis. Washington University’s first-round opponent will be Beloit College, the 2010 champion of the Midwest Conference. That match will take place on Friday, Nov. 12, at 3 p.m.