C-USA Announces Volleyball All-Conference and Individual Award Winners

Nov. 19, 2009

Ashley Mell

IRVING, Texas - Conference USA has announced its 2009 all-conference first and second teams as well as the all-freshman team and individual specialty award winners for volleyball, as selected by the league's head coaches.

After leading his team to the C-USA regular season title, Southern Miss head coach Ricci Luyties was unanimously voted C-USA Coach of the Year. Luyties guided the Golden Eagles to a 14-2 C-USA record and a 26-4 overall mark. The 14 league wins mark a program best and an improvement from its 7-9 record and seventh-place finish from a year ago.

Sharing an individual specialty award is Southern Miss' Kelsea Seymour and Meredith Schamun of Rice. The pair was voted Co-Setters of the Year and both appear on the All-C-USA first team. Seymour, a sophomore, guided her club to its first C-USA title and finished fourth in assists per set (10.60). She ended the regular season with 19 double-doubles, second most in the league, and dished out a season-high 60 assists twice (vs. UCF and Rice). Those 60 assists account for two of the top five single-match best for a league match this year.

Schamun, who ranks ninth in the NCAA, led the league for most assists per set in overall (11.89) and conference (12.41) only matches. She tied Natalie Bogan for most team double-doubles with 11 that included a match-high 61 assist and 22 dig performance at SMU on Oct. 23. The junior has distributed 3,704 career assists to rank fourth at Rice and 16th in C-USA. Both were named C-USA Setter of the Week four times this season.

Angela Hlavaty

Joining Seymour on the all-conference first team are Angela Hlavaty and Ashley Mell, while Maia Ivanova appeared on the second team. Mell leads Southern Miss in kills and is second on the team in digs. She posted 13 double-doubles and was named C-USA Offensive Player of the Week twice. Hlavaty earned C-USA Offensive Player of the Week honors as she was fourth on the team in kills. Ivanova led the team in digs and aces. She earned two C-USA Defensive Player of the Week honors.

After winning C-USA Freshman and Newcomer of the Year honors in 2008, Tulane sophomore Visnja Djurdjevic and Tulsa senior Jennifer Eichler shares this year's C-USA Player of the Year honors. The duo also appears on the 2009 All-C-USA first team.

Djurdjevic led the league in points (4.84) and aces (0.43) plus ranked second in kills (4.25) per set. She was the only league player to rank in the Top 20 in kills, aces, points and digs. Djurdjevic had 11 kill/dig double-doubles in league play, including a career-high 29 kills and a school-record 36 digs against SMU on Sept. 27.

Eichler ranks third in the league in points (4.35), fifth in kills (3.80) and 10th in hitting efficiency (.287). She ended the regular season with 12 double-doubles and averaged 4.00 kills per set-or-more in 15 matches.

For the second consecutive year, Tracey Lam of Rice has been voted the Libero of the Year, marking just the third time in league history an individual has repeated this honor. The junior tops the dig charts in overall (5.45) and league (5.57) matches as well as ranking 10th in the nation in digs per set. The 2009 All-C-USA first teamer was named Libero of the Week three times and concluded the regular season with double-digit digs in 26-of-27 matches. Lam sports a school-record 1,602 career digs, a figure that ranks eighth best in the C-USA annals.

Kelsea Seymour

After leading the league in overall and C-USA only matches in kills and kills per set, Tyler Henderson of Tulsa was voted Freshman of the Year. The rookie was also named to the All-Freshman team and All-C-USA first team as well as earning C-USA Offensive Player of the Week accolades four times this season. Henderson recorded a league-high 31 kills against Southern Miss on Nov. 8, and tallied double-digit kills in 26 matches. She had seven matches with 20-or-more kills, 19 matches with 4.50-or-more kills per set, and hit above .400 in nine matches.

For the third consecutive year, UAB has captured the Newcomer of the Year award. Junior Michelle Uzoh wins this season's honors. The 5-11 middle blocker is a transfer from Georgia Southern, is tied for first in the conference in blocks (1.24) and has a hitting efficiency of .311, for fifth best in the league.

Tulsa topped everyone with six all-conference honorees. In addition to Eichler and Henderson on the first team, Tulsa had Jessica Adams, Julia Kenealy and Hannah Stout named to the second team. Along with Henderson, Adams appeared on the six-member All-Freshman list.

Rice followed with five all-conference selections. The Owls also placed Ashleigh McCord and Bogan on the first team beside Lam and Schamun, while rookie Nancy Cole earned a place on the All-Freshman Team.

The Green Wave was led by Djurdjevic on the first team, followed by setter Rachel Lindelow and opposite hitter Ksenija Vlaskovic on the second team. All-Freshman honors went to Marija Milosavljevic.

Emily Sullivan of Marshall rounded out the list of first team honorees.

Maia Ivanova

The following is a list of all-conference honorees and specialty award winners for the 2009 C-USA volleyball season.

2009 CONFERENCE USA VOLLEYBALL POSTSEASON AWARD WINNERS

ALL-C-USA HONOREES First Team
Emily Sullivan, Marshall, OH
Natalie Bogan, Rice, MB
Tracey Lam, Rice, LIB
Ashleigh McCord, Rice, OH
Meredith Schamun, Rice, S
Angela Hlavaty, Southern Miss, OH
Ashley Mell, Southern Miss, OH
Kelsea Seymour, Southern Miss, S
Visnja Djurdjevic, Tulane, OH
Jennifer Eichler, Tulsa, OH
Tyler Henderson, Tulsa, OH

Second Team
Kinsey Cave, Houston, RS
Elizabeth Fleming, Marshall, S
Kendra Kahanek, SMU, MB
Dana Powell, SMU, OH
Maia Ivanova, Southern Miss, LIB
Rachel Lindelow, Tulane, S
Ksenija Vlaskovic, Tulane, OH
Jessica Adams, Tulsa, LIB
Julia Kenealy, Tulsa, MB
Hannah Stout, Tulsa, MH
Erin Campbell, UCF, OH

ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM
Jasmine Terry, Houston, OH
Altrese Hawkins, Memphis, OH/RS
Nancy Cole, Rice, MB
Marija Milosavljevic, Tulane, MB
Jessica Adams, Tulsa, LIB
Tyler Henderson, Tulsa, OH
Sam Serley, UAB, MB

INDIVIDUAL AWARD WINNERS

Co-PLAYERS OF THE YEAR
Visnja Djurdjevic, Tulane, OH
Jennifer Eichler, Tulsa, OH

Co-SETTERS OF THE YEAR
Meredith Schamun, Rice, S
Kelsea Seymour, Southern Miss, S

LIBERO OF THE YEAR
Tracey Lam, Rice, LIB

NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR
Michelle Uzoh, UAB, MB

FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Tyler Henderson, Tulsa, OH

COACH OF THE YEAR
Ricci Luyties, Southern Miss

C-USA Announces Volleyball All-Conference and Individual Award Winners

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