Morrison, Janak and Albers Garner All-America Honors

Bloomington, Ill., November 14, 2007 – Washington University junior right side hitter Nikki Morrison earned AVCA Division III first-team All-America honors, it was announced at the NCAA Division III Volleyball Women’s National Championship banquet in Bloomington, Ill., on Wednesday night.   Junior setter Audra Janak was honored with a third-team All-America selection, while sophomore middle hitter Erin Albers was an honorable mention All-America selection.

Morrison is a first-team All-America selection for the first time in her career.  She earned third-team All-America honors following her sophomore campaign.  This season, Morrison leads the Bears with 414 kills, a rate of 3.70 per game, is hitting .347, the second-best rate on Washington U, and has 87 total blocks, the second-best total on the team.  Morrison was also tabbed as a first-team all-UAA selection on Nov. 7.  For her career, she has compiled 874 kills, and her career-attack percentage of .353 ranks as the 10th-best rate in Washington University history.

Janak garners third-team All-America honors as Washington U.’s primary setter, notching 1,054 assists in 2007, a rate of 9.67 per game.  She recorded the 2,000th assist of her career in the Bears’ 3-2 win over the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh in the 2007 NCAA Midwest Regional semifinal match on Nov. 9, and is just the eighth player in WU history to eclipse 2,000 assists.  Janak had the most productive match of her career in Washington University’s 3-1 victory over Carthage College in the Midwest Regional Championship on Nov. 10, tallying a career-high 59 assists.  She earned AVCA first-team All-America honors last season.

Albers has been the Bears’ most efficient attacker this season, boasting a hitting percentage of .373.  She finished the season on a personal hot streak, hitting .458 and averaging 2.90 kills per game since Oct. 5.  Albers also leads WU with 112 total blocks, and led all of the UAA with 1.17 blocks per game.  She was a first-team all-UAA selection and an academic all-UAA selection.  Like Janak, she saved her best performance of the season for the national stage, tallying a career-high 16 kills against Carthage on Nov. 10.

Washington U. (30-5) returns to action on Thursday, Nov. 15, in Bloomington, Ill., when it will face No. 3 Emory University (33-6) in the quarterfinals of the 2007 NCAA Championships.  The match is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.