McCloud Named A-10 Player of the Year, Roth Setter of the Year
Nov. 20, 2008
ST. LOUIS - Saint Louis junior right-side hitter Sammi McCloud (Columbia, Ill. / Columbia) and junior Whitney Roth (Louisville, Ky. / Assumption) garnered Atlantic 10 Conference Volleyball Player and Setter of the Year honors, respectively, on Thursday. In addition, head coach Anne Kordes earned her second Coach of the Year accolade in voting conducted by the league's head coaches. Junior outside hitter Bridget Fonke (St. Louis, Mo. / St. Joseph's) and junior middle blocker Sally Warning (Appleton, Wis. / Kimberly) joined McCloud and Roth on the All-Conference first team to give the Billikens a program-record four first-team selections. Xavier is the only A-10 school to have four players earn All-Conference honors, however that was before members were designated as first or second team. Junior libero Whitney Behrens (St. Louis, Mo. / Incarnate Word) represented SLU on the Academic All-Conference squad. McCloud, the first SLU volleyball player to be named A-10 Player of the Year, went from Rookie of the Year in 2006 to the league's top honor as a junior. She led the A-10 with a program-best four Player of the Week selections this season. The two-time A-10 first team pick was also named Sport Imports/AVCA Division I National Player of the Week on Sept. 8 after guiding the Bills to a 3-1 win over then-No. 3 Stanford. McCloud ranks second in the conference with 3.48 kills per set and is fifth in hitting percentage (.306). Against A-10 foes, she ranks second in the A-10 with 3.96 kills per set and is third with a .391 hitting percentage. McCloud, who was named to three-All-Tournament teams this season, ranks 10th on SLU's career kills list with 1,017.
Roth captured her second straight Setter of the Year award after turning in a league-high 11.22 assists per set, which ranks 19th in the nation. In A-10 matches, she ranked second with 11.49 assists per set. The Billikens' career assists leader (4,060) is a two-time All-Conference first team selection. Roth, a 2007 AVCA All-Region honorable mention pick, was named A-10 Player of the Week on Sept. 22 and was a member of three All-Tournament squads this season. Fonke moved up to the first team after earning second-team accolades a year ago. She led the A-10 with 0.45 aces per set, which ranks 24th nationally. The junior outside hitter also ranked fourth with 3.39 kills per set. In league contests, Fonke ranked second with 0.51 service aces per set and was third with 3.62 kills per set. She was named A-10 Player of the Week on Oct. 27. Fonke is tied for ninth on Saint Louis' career service aces list with 107. Warning picked up the first A-10 plaudits of her career this season after transitioning to the middle-blocker position. The junior ranks third in the A-10 with a .345 hitting percentage and 1.05 blocks per set. In league matches, she leads the A-10 with 1.13 blocks per set and hits at a .387 clip, which ranks fourth. Warning was named A-10 Player of the Week on Sept. 29 for the first time in her career. She is swiftly moving up the career charts for blocks, ranking 11th with 201 block assists and 13th with 219 total blocks. Behrens, a nutrition and dietetics major, is the third SLU player chosen to the A-10 All-Academic team since the Billikens joined the league prior to the 2005 campaign. The junior will be on the CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America ballot as a result of being named to the All-District first team earlier this season. Behrens, SLU's starting libero since her freshman season, ranks fourth on the career digs chart with 1,269. Kordes was voted A-10 Coach of the Year by her peers after guiding the Bills to their first outright A-10 West regular-season title and the first national ranking in program history. She also received the honor in 2006 after Saint Louis earned a share of the A-10 West regular-season crown. The No. 21 Billikens (24-4, 13-0 A-10) host the A-10 Volleyball Championship at Chaifetz Pavilion this weekend. SLU, which earned the top seed after completing the first perfect conference slate since 1997, will be vying for its second Championship title. The Bills, who are riding a program-best 16-match winning streak, will play in the semifinals at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 22, against an opponent to be determined. The title match is at 1 p.m. on Sunday. |
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