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Issued: December 10, 2007

VOLLEYBALL ANOUNCES TEAM AWARDS AT BANQUET

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. – The UW-Eau Claire women’s volleyball team handed out team awards Sunday night at their annual end of the season banquet.

Outside hitter, Abby Freiborg (Jr.-Sacred Heart, MN/Renville County West) took home two awards this year as she was named the team’s Most Valuable Player and the Blugold Award Winner. The Blugold award is awarded to the player who displays dedication, team work, work ethic, and pride. Freiborg was also selected to the first team All-Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) roster earlier this month. She led the conference in aces this season with .68 per game. In addition to leading the conference in aces, she also averaged an impressive 3.54 kills per game and 4.0 digs per game.

Libero, Heather Harnell (Sr.-Minnetonka, MN) was voted by her teammates as the team’s Most Valuable Defensive Player. Harnell averaged, a team leading, 4.58 digs per game as she earned herself WIAC All-Defensive Team honors as well as All-Sportsmanship Team honors.

Outside hitter, Nikki Peterson (Sr.-North St. Paul, MN/North) earned the Most Valuable Offensive Player award. Peterson had a great season. She led the Blugolds in attack percentage and posted 2.91 kills per game. Peterson was also named to the All-WIAC first team along with her fellow outside hitter.

The Most Improved Player award went to, middle hitter, Katie Fox (Jr.-Chippewa Falls, WI/Chi-Hi). Fox finished the regular season sixth in the WIAC in hitting percentage at a clip of .276. Fox was a huge part of the Blugolds success on the defensive end. She averaged .92 blocks per game.

Danielle Lucia (Fr.-St. Cloud, MN/Apollo) and Rachel Ver Voort (Fr.-Madison, WI/Middleton) shared the Top Newcomer award. Lucia is a middle hitter, and she averaged 1.93 kills per game along with .61 blocks per game. Ver Vroot is an outside hitter, and she averaged 2.29 kills per game as well as 1.76 digs per game.

The Blugolds had a very successful season in which they went 22-11 overall and ended their season with a loss to St. Thomas University (Minn.) in the NCAA Playoffs. This year’s winning season was the ninth in a row for the Blugold volleyball program and the first under new head coach Kim Wudi.

The 2007 UW-Eau Claire volleyball team had 17 letter winners. Three of the most notable letter winners were Peterson, Harnell, and Lissa Martinez (Vadnais Heights, MN/White Bear Lake), for they each earned their fourth letters as Blugolds.

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