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Patriot League Announces Volleyball All-League and Major Awards
Nov. 16, 2010
Center Valley, Pa. - After posting a perfect 14-0 Patriot League record during the regular season and earning the hosting duties for the upcoming League tournament, American was also a big winner Tuesday when the League announced its All-League team and major awards. The All-League team and major awards were voted on by the League's head coaches, who could not vote for their own players or themselves. The first-place Eagles tied Army with a League-best four on the All-League team, while also picking up two major awards. Senior Magdalena Tekiel was named Player of the Year, while Barry Goldberg earned Coach of the Year. Other American student-athletes joining Tekiel on the All-League team are fellow seniors Cassandra Ricketts and Angelina Waterman, along with sophomore Bianca Richardson. Army led the way with three winners of major awards, and finished in a second-place tie with three on the All-League team. Senior Karyn Powell was named Setter of the Year, while senior Brittany Jensen received the Defensive Player of the Year award and Megan Wilton was named Rookie of the Year. All three were also All-League honorees, while sophomore Francine Vasquez also earned First-Team All-League accolades. Colgate placed three onto the All-League team, with senior middle blocker Casey Ritt earning First-Team honors. Teammates Maureen Colligan and Kaylee Dougherty, both juniors, were placed on the Second Team. Rounding out the team are senior Heidi Kamp of Bucknell, sophomore Megan Lynch from Holy Cross and sophomore Taylor Poole of Lehigh. Kamp and Poole were both named to the First Team, while Lynch earned a Second-Team nod. Tekiel was a dominating player all season for American. In 92 sets this season, she holds a League-best .352 hitting percentage and is tops with 3.89 kills per set. She had the fifth-best attacking game of the season Sept. 19 against Stony Brook, when she hit .571 with 13 kills and only one error in 21 attempts in a three-set victory for the Eagles. She recorded 22 kills against Bucknell Sept. 24, which is tied for third overall in all matches and tied for first in four-set contests this season. She is also tied for fourth in kills in a three-set match this season, having accrued 18 against George Mason on Aug. 27. She's set career highs with 358 kills and 206 digs this season. Tekiel was also stellar during League play, as she was the only player to average over four kills per set during that stretch (4.17). Powell is the second straight Setter of the Year from Army and fourth overall since the award was introduced in 2006. She led the League with 1,103 total assists, while her 9.68 assists-per-set average is second. She posted the second-best single-game assists output of the year when she tallied 59 in a five-set loss to American on Nov. 6. She also owns the top-three marks for total assists in a four-set match this season with 51, 49 and 45, the latter two coming during League matches against Navy and Lehigh, respectively. Jensen becomes the first student-athlete from Army to be named Defensive Player of the Year. She posted 409 total digs on the year to this point, which is third amongst all League players, while her average of 3.82 digs per set is second. She owns the best mark of the year for digs in a four-set match with 25, while her 20 digs against Colgate Oct. 16 are tied for third-best in a three-set contest. Wilton was a steady contributor for Army this season. She has played in 107 of her team's 114 sets, posting a team-high and the League's third-best mark with 89 total blocks (17 solo), while hitting .251 with 233 total kills and a 2.18 kills-per-set average. Her average of 0.83 blocks per set is currently ninth-best heading into the Patriot League Tournament. Goldberg was named the League's Coach of the Year for the third time in his career after guiding American to a perfect 14-0 record against League teams. It's the sixth time in the last 10 years the Eagles have run the table in League play, and American is currently riding a 21-match winning streak, which is tied for the longest in League history. It was first done in 2001, also by American. Goldberg was also named Coach of the Year in 2001 and again in 2006. His team's 27 victories, which are three shy of the League's all-time mark of 30 set by Army in 1990, are the most the Eagles have had since joining the League in 2001. Ricketts and Waterman finished the regular season 3-4 in hitting percentage in the League, with marks of .325 and .291, respectively. Ricketts tallied a total of 143 kills and 118 digs in 69 sets for the Eagles, while also coming up with 43 total blocks. Waterman's 323 kills are second on the team behind Tekiel, while her 217 total digs are second on the club to Deborah Frantz's 344. Vasquez was Army's lone representative on the First Team. The senior right side hitter posted a .168 hitting percentage with 184 total kills and 183 total digs on the year, while her 40 total blocks are fourth on the Black Knights. Ritt, a senior middle blocker, was stellar for Colgate during the regular season. She tied for the League lead during the regular season with 96 total blocks, while finishing third with 20 solo blocks. Her 0.89 blocks-per-set average is fourth-best in the League heading into the tournament this weekend. She also has the team's best hitting percentage at .250. Colligan led the Raiders with 282 total kills, while Dougherty contributed 194 kills and the team's second-best mark of 75 total blocks. Kamp moved up to the First Team after earning Second-Team recognition last year for the Bison. She played in 94 of her team's 95 frames this season, finishing eighth in the League with a .259 hitting percentage and 10th with 2.32 kills per set. Poole earned her first All-League laurels one year after making the All-Tournament team. Her .328 hitting percentage currently stands second in the League, while her 2.44 kills-per-set average is ninth. She was also solid defensively for the Mountain Hawks, logging 75 total blocks while holding the 10th-best blocks average in the League at 0.77. Lynch was named to the Second Team for the second consecutive year. The Holy Cross sophomore posted a League-leading 442 total kills during the regular season, while her 388 digs were second on the team and currently stand fifth amongst League players. The 2010 Patriot League Volleyball Tournament commences Saturday at Bender Arena on the campus of American University. The top-seeded Eagles will host No. 4 Bucknell at 4 p.m., while No. 2 Army and third-seeded Colgate will play at 6 p.m. The semifinal winners will take the floor Sunday at 4 p.m. with the Patriot League title and an automatic NCAA Tournament bid at stake. 2010 Volleyball All-Patriot League Team First-Team Second-Team Player of the Year Magdalena Tekiel, American, Sr., OH
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