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Nov. 19, 2009
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) released its 2009 post-season volleyball honors earlier today, on the eve of the start of the 2009 MEAC Volleyball Tournament. The University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) took two of the top three honors as Head Coach Don Metil earned his second Coach of the Year award while freshmen setter Bella Jade Romero (El Paso, Texas) was named Rookie of the Year. Metil earned his second nod in just three seasons at the helm of UMES Volleyball. He posted his third straight 10-0 record in conference play. UMES was 30-31 in MEAC games played this season. Metil also recorded his third straight 20 win-season. The Lady Hawks are sixth in the nation and lead the MEAC in hitting percentage (.289). They also lead the conference in assists (11.87) and kills per set (12.74). UMES leads the nation in service aces (2.61) and is currently riding a 13 match winning streak. Romero made it two straight for UMES with the Rookie of the Year Award. She totaled 890 assists (10/game) to help the Hawks hold their dominance in the conference's Northern Division. She posted 16 30-plus assist performances and recorded five double-doubles this season. Romero is second in the MEAC in assists per set. Despite these accolades and statistics, Romero was left off the All-Conference Team, voted on by the league's Head Coaches and Sports Information Directors. UMES dominated the league statistically speaking, leading the conference in four aforementioned categories and was second in opponent hitting percentage (.166) and fourth in digs per set (12.08). Even though the Hawks posted such great numbers they only received one player on the First-Team. Whitney Johnson (Prince Frederick, Md.) earned her third straight honor. The 2007 conference Player of the Year tallied 279 kills and averaged 3.10 kills per game, hitting 327 on the year. Johnson led the Hawks in total points (333.5), kills and was third in attack percentage. In conference she was third in hitting percentage, sixth in kills per game and sixth in points per game. Her hitting percentage also ranks in the top 100 players in the nation and she is 63rd in the country in aces per game.
Caylin Woodward (Garden Grove, Calif.), arguably the best all-around player to ever wear the maroon and grey, was a second-team selection. A Player of the Year candidate, Woodward led the team in digs per game (2.79), was second in assists per game (1.06) and hitting percentage (.304) and third in kills per game, blocks per game and points per game. She was fourth in the MEAC in hitting percentage (.304) overall and second in conference only matches at .404. Last season's Rookie of the Year, Christine Edwards (Lakewood, Calif.), also earned Second Team honors. Edwards led UMES in kills per game (3.32), total kills (279), and points per game (3.93). She was second in service aces per game (.52) and second in total points (330.5). In the league Edwards was third in kills per game and service aces per game and was fourth in points per game. Her aces per game also rank tenth nationally. The Hawks had no other players make the All-Conference Team despite such standouts as libero Karin Vikterlof (Orebo, Sweden), who was a defensive presence for UMES and happened to rank second in the nation in service aces per game. Middle Blocker Samantha Chukwura (Brooklyn, N.Y.) led the MEAC in hitting percentage with a .397 and is currently 13th in the nation with the same percentage. Those two along with Romero were certainly on par with many All-MEAC selections. Other schools receiving awards were Florida A&M who got Player of the year in Jovana Blazeski. Blazeski was a First-Team selection along with setter Jessica Bond and libero Susan Egoavil. Delaware State saw Cassandra Joyner earn first team honors while Erica Tajchman was second-team. Howard, who finished fourth in the MEAC's Northern Division, placed Gazelle d'Artois on the first team and libero Nicole Brown on the second team. Bethune-Cookman's Chelle Ticeson and Norfolk State setter Nicole Kessner rounded out the second-team. Action begins Friday, November 20, 2009 at the Coppin Center in Baltimore, Md. Top-seeded UMES takes on Norfolk State at 1 p.m. If they advance they will play the winner of Bethune-Cookman and Morgan State on Saturday at noon. A win in the semi-finals means they play for the championship on Sunday at noon. UMES hopes to make their third straight appearance in the championship match. |
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