Pazo Named to All-Conference USA First Team

Nov. 16, 2005

Irving -

Rice senior outside hitter Olaya Pazo was named to the all-Conference USA women's volleyball first team, announced Wednesday by the league office. Pazo leads the Owls in kills this season, and has posted 22 double-doubles, including 16 in a row, while averaging 4.74 kills per game. Junior middle blocker Tessa Kuykendall also earned all-C-USA honors as a third-team selection.

Sophomore Kelly-Anne Billingy of Marshall was named C- USA Player of the Year by league coaches. Billingy is a three-time C-USA Player of the Week and was awarded the Sports Imports/AVCA National Player of the Week award on Oct. 31. Billingy's .364 hitting percentage leads the league, as do her 5.68 kills per game. Billingy is third in the nation in kills per game. She recorded double-digits kills in every match except at No. 2 Penn State. She hit over .500 in six matches and was held under .300 in just two C-USA matches. The Trinidad native set the Marshall single-match kills record with 38 at Memphis, which is also the highest total in a C-USA match this season. As only a sophomore, Billingy eclipsed the 1,000 career-kill plateau and is currently in fourth place in Marshall history with her 1,154.

Head coach Mitch Jacobs, who currently leads Marshall in its longest winning streak since 1977 with nine consecutive victories, was named the 2005 C-USA Coach of the Year. Marshall recorded not only the Conference USA regular season title in its inaugural year in C-USA, but earned the No. 1 seed in the 2005 C-USA Volleyball Championship, which will be played Nov. 17-20 at Rice's Autry Court. The Herd holds an overall record of 23-5 and are 15-1 in league action. The 23 victories are the second most in school history since 1995 when the Herd won 25.

Joining Billingy on the C-USA All-Conference first team for the Herd is two-time C-USA Setter of the Week Katie Stein. The senior guided the Herd to a .281 team hitting percentage this season. Stein is averaging 14.02 assists per game and has tallied 58 service aces this season. Also on the all-conference first team are two Houston standouts in Kariny Ritter and Jaci Gonzalez. The pair of seniors helped the Cougars earn the No. 2 seed in the league tournament. Ritter is the only player in C-USA to smack more than 30 kills per match twice this season, and is one of only three players to be named Player of the Week on three separate occasions.

Stein was also named 2005 Setter of the Year, after breaking the Marshall records for all-time assists and aces this season. She has totaled 5,662 assists, 1,143 digs and 196 service aces this season, and recorded the first triple-double in Herd history at Memphis on Oct. 16.

For the second consecutive year, Gonzalez earned the 2005 Defensive Specialist of the Year. The Cougar is one of only three UH players to compete in all 101 games this season, and currently sits third all-time in NCAA history with 2,379 career digs. Gonzalez became the 13th player on the NCAA charts to surpass 2,000 digs against South Carolina on Sept. 16 and broke the C-USA record for career digs (2,074) against Tulane on Oct. 2.

Rounding out the All-Conference first team are UTEP's Kari Stacy and East Carolina's Pam Ferris. Stacy has combined for 481 kills this season, while averaging 4.67 per game to lead the Miners. Stacy has also tallied nine double-doubles, seven 20-kill performances, and one 30-kill outing. Ferris wrapped up her final campaign with 400 kills on the season, a mark only four other players in ECU history have reached, and 14 double-double performances.

It has been a challenging year for Tulane with each of its athletic teams scattered across the southwest on five different campuses. The volleyball team based its operations at Texas A&M University in College Station, where freshman Sara Radosevic has emerged as one of the bright young stars of C-USA. The outside hitter from Croatia, is Tulane's kill leader with 5.20 per game, which ranks second in C-USA. Radosevic ended the regular season ranked ninth in the NCAA and tops all Division I rookies by at least a half a kill per game.

The 2005 C-USA Volleyball Championship tips off this Thursday, November 17 at Rice's Autry Court in Houston, Texas. For complete coverage of the tournament, including a bracket and match times, go to the official conference website at www.ConferenceUSA.com.

2005 ALL-CONFERENCE USA AWARDS
All-Conference First Team
Kelly-Anne Billingy, Sophomore, Outside Hitter, Marshall
Pam Ferris, Senior, Outside Hitter, East Carolina
Jaci Gonzalez, Senior, Libero, Houston
Olaya Pazo, Senior, Right Side/Outside Hitter, Rice
Kariny Ritter, Senior, Outside Hitter, Houston
Kari Stacy, Senior, Outside Hitter, UTEP
Katie Stein, Senior, Setter, Marshall

All-Conference Second Team
Natalie Peters, Freshman, Middle Blocker, SMU
Sara Radosevic, Freshman, Outside Hitter, Tulane
Nickie Sanlin, Senior, Middle Blocker, Marshall
Becca Sartori, Junior, Middle Blocker, Houston
Julia Silva, Sophomore, Setter, Tulsa
Kassiana Urnau, Sophomore, Outside Hitter, Tulsa
Evyn Wills, Senior, Libero, Tulsa

All-Conference Third Team
Ivana Bozic, Freshman, Outside Hitter, UAB
Stephanie Cahill, Sophomore, Outside Hitter, Marshall
Kelly Dickson, Senior, Libero, Tulane
Heidi Krug, Junior, Setter, East Carolina
Tessa Kuykendall, Junior, Middle Blocker, Rice
Brooke Peugh, Freshman, Middle Blocker, UTEP
Erica Wilson, Senior, Outside Hitter, East Carolina

All-Freshman Team
Ivana Bozic, Outside Hitter, UAB
Justine Farmer, Outside Hitter, Houston
Natalie Peters, Middle Blocker, SMU
Brooke Peugh, Middle Blocker, UTEP
Sara Radosevic, Outside Hitter, Tulane
Luna Rebrovic, Setter, Tulane

Player of the Year
Kelly-Anne Billingy, Sophomore, Outside Hitter, Marshall

Coach of the Year
Mitch Jacobs, Marshall

Defensive Player of the Year
Jaci Gonzalez, Senior, Libero, Houston

Setter of the Year
Katie Stein, Senior, Setter, Marshall

Freshman of the Year
Sara Radosevic, Outside Hitter, Tulane

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