Owls Clean Up C-USA Volleyball Awards
11/19/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 19, 2008
Rice head volleyball coach Genny Volpe was named Conference USA co-coach of the year at the C-USA pre-tournament awards banquet as the Owls accounted for a league-high six All-Conference honors, including three first team selections, two second-team honorees and one All-Freshman pick as well as the Libero of the Year in sophomore Tracey Lam. Lam was also voted to the All-C-USA second team. The 5-6 defensive specialist earned a league-best four Defensive Player of the Week honors and ranks 26th in the nation in digs, averaging 5.0 per set. Lam's 39 digs, for a five-game match, against UAB stands as a C-USA single-match high for 2008. Lam is 11 digs shy of 1,000.
Volpe earns her first C-USA Coach of the Year honor after guiding the Owls to a No.3 seed in this week's C-USA Championship. Volpe's club produced an overall record of 21-6 and went 12-4 in league play. The 12 conference victories are the most under Volpe.
First team accolades goes to Rice senior Karyn Morgan, junior Natalie Bogan and sophomore Meredith Schamun.
Morgan has had a solid senior campaign as she ranks among the top five in the league in two categories - points (3.87/fifth) and digs (3.44/fourth). She also has produced 12 double-doubles, fourth most in the league. Earlier this season, she joined the 1,000 kill and 1,000 dig club and currently owns 1,314 career kills and 1,185 career digs, figures that rank eighth- and sixth-best at Rice, respectively.
Bogan leads the Owls and ranks fifth in the conference in hitting percentage with an overall accuracy of .331. She also tops the club in points per set with 3.38, which ranks 11th in the league as well as second on the team in blocks (0.79) per set. She currently has 912 career kills and is 88 shy of 1,000.
At one point in the season, Schamun ranked among the nation's top three setters in assists per set. She enters championship week dishing out a league-best 11.56 assists per set, which currently ranks 11th in the country. Schamun's 59 assists in a four-game match against SMU is a C-USA single-match high for the season. She has accumulated 2,439 assists in only two seasons to rank sixth in school history.
Repeating her All-C-USA second team honor from a year ago is Rice senior Jessica Holderness . The 5-11 outside hitter ranks 13th and 15th in C-USA in kills (2.92) and digs (3.17) per set, respectively. She also owns nine double-doubles on the season and enters this week with 939 career kills and 945 career digs.
Owning a C-USA freshman best in hitting accuracy (.302) and kills (3.10) per set, Rice rookie outside hitter Ashleigh McCord was the sixth Owl honored with an All-Freshman team selection. McCord also accounted for 3.32 points per set.
Sharing C-USA coach of the year honors with Genny Volpe was Tulane's Tulane's Liz Kritza. Kritza also tied for the award in 2007. The Green Wave tops the conference with a No. 1 seed, a stellar 15-1 C-USA record and an overall performance of 24-5. Tulane's 24-wins are the most in the league this season. Kritza led Tulane to the program's first C-USA regular season title and coached five players to all-conference honors, including the program's first Player of the Year selection in Radosevic.
2008 C-USA VOLLEYBALL AWARDS
ALL-CONFERENCE TEAMS
All-Conference First Team
Lucy Charuk, So., MB, Houston
Justine Farmer, Sr., OH, Houston
Jalicia Ross, Sr., MB, Marshall
Natalie Bogan, Jr., MB, Rice
Karyn Morgan, Sr., OH, Rice
Meredith Schamun, So., S, Rice
Sara Radosevic, Sr, OH, Tulane
Bridget Wells, Sr., RS, Tulane
Beth Hodge, Sr., OH, Tulsa
Ivana Bozic, Sr., OH, UAB
Casey Dent, Sr., MB, UAB
Nevena Stefanov, Sr., S, UAB
All-Conference Second Team
Laura Côté, Sr., S, Memphis
Emily Underwood, So., MB, Memphis
Jessica Holderness, Sr., OH, Rice
Tracey Lam, So., L, Rice
Visnja Djurdjevic, Fr., OH, Tulane
Jen Linder, Sr., MB, Tulane
Jenn Miller, Jr., L, Tulane
Jennifer Eichler, Jr., OH, Tulsa
Lilly Domingos, Sr., MB, UAB
Stephanie Serna, Sr., RS, UCF
All-Freshman Team
Ingrida Zauere, MB, Houston
Carolyn Baker, MH, Memphis
Ashleigh McCord, MB, Rice
Dana Powell, OH, SMU
Lauren Sears, MS, Southern Miss
Visnja Djurdjevic, OH, Tulane
Rachel Vukson, S, Tulsa
INDIVIDUAL AWARDS
Newcomer of the Year
Jennifer Eichler, Tulsa
Freshman of the Year
Visnja Djurdjevic, Tulane
Libero of the Year
Tracey Lam, Rice
Setter of the Year
Nevena Stefanov, UAB
Player of the Year
Sara Radosevic, Tulane
Co-Coach of the Year
Genny Volpe, Rice
Liz Kritza, Tulane
