Dec. 6, 2011
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Husky senior Bianca Rowland and freshman Krista Vansant were both honored today by the American Volleyball Coaches Association, as the AVCA announced its All-Region Teams. Rowland was voted to the All-Pacific Region Team for the third year in a row, and Vansant was chosen as the region's Freshman of the Year. The Pacific Region Team is even more selective than the All-Pac-10 Team, as the Pacific Region includes the entire Pac-12 conference as well as the West Coast Conference and Big Sky Conference. Rowland was an All-Pac-12 selection and Vansant was named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year last week. The fourteen athletes on the All-Pacific Region Team are now eligible for AVCA All-America honors. Rowland was an All-America honorable mention the past two years. She is the only one of the 14 athletes to be a three-time All-Region selection. Rowland averaged a career-best 1.50 blocks per set this season, second in the Pac-12, and her .354 attack percentage ranked fifth in the conference. She wound up third in career blocks at UW with 492, and second in career attack percentage at .387. Vansant is the second Husky to earn Region Freshman of the Year, joining Christal Morrison who won the award in 2004. She will now be one of eight candidates for the National Freshman of the Year honor. She finished ninth in the Pac-12 in kills per set (3.69) and points per set (4.17), the only freshman in the top-10 in both. Vansant won Pac-12 Freshman of the Week honors on three occasions. She played her best volleyball late in the season, as she hit over .300 in each of Washington's final five matches, with two season-best 25 kill nights against Washington State and Western Michigan, and 22 more in UW's five-set loss at Minnesota in the NCAA second round. |
