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 Whitney Roth, Saint Louis |
Nov. 15, 2007
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - Xavier senior middle blocker Jill Quayle has been named the 2007 Atlantic 10 Player of the Year and sophomore setter Whitney Roth of Saint Louis earned Setter of the Year honors in voting conducted among the Conference's head coaches.
In that same vote, Carly Romberg of Charlotte garnered the league's first Libero of the Year award, middle blocker Lindsay Fletemier of Dayton was tabbed Rookie of the Year and Xavier coach Floyd Deaton was named Coach of the Year. Additionally, Charlotte senior outside hitter Alma Arroyo was named Student-Athlete of the Year in voting by the Conference's sports information directors.
Quayle is the first Xavier student-athlete since 2001 to earn Player of the Year honors. She enters this week's Atlantic 10 Championship (Nov. 16-18) as the league-leader in hitting percentage with a .402 clip, which also ranks 11th nationally, and blocks at 1.34 per game. A native of North Royalton, Ohio, the senior was twice named the A-10 Player of the Week this season and is a three-time All-Conference honoree after being named to the second-team for the past two seasons.
Roth earned Setter of the Year honors in just her second season of competition and led the Billikens to the third-seed in the A-10 Championship. The sophomore from Louisville, Ky., averages 13.07 assists per game - tops in the Conference - and a league-leading 12.85 assists in A-10 play. She ranks first among setters in the league in hitting percentage with a .364 average.
Joining Quayle and Roth on the All-Conference first-team are Bethany Akerhielm and Jamie-Lee Richards of Dayton; Sutton Lasater and Sammi McCloud from Saint Louis and Temple's Yue Liu.
The All-Conference second-team is comprised of Bridget Fonke of Saint Louis; Dayton's Lindsay Fletemier and Erin Schroeder; Janine Brown of George Washington; Christi Griffiths from Fordham; Xavier's Hillary Otte and Yun Yi Zhang of Temple.
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Romberg earns the league's first Libero of the Year award after leading the league in digs with 6.91 per game. She ranks 17th nationally in the category and earned A-10 Player of the Week honors on Nov. 13 after recording a school-record 36 digs versus George Washington on Nov. 1. The Aurora, Colo., native finished the season with a school-record single-season mark of 554 digs and has 1,426 career digs to place third all-time at Charlotte.
Fletemier enjoyed an outstanding rookie season at Dayton, leading the Flyers to the No. 1 seed in the A-10 Championship and their fourth-straight regular season title. The middle blocker from Garden City, Mich., garnered a league-high six Rookie of the Week honors and led all rookies in hitting percentage with a .346 clip overall. She leads the 16th-ranked Flyers in blocks (1.30) and is second on the team in hitting percentage (.317) and third in kills per game (2.56).
Fletemier is joined on the All-Rookie team by Christi Griffiths and Kailee May of Fordham; Kayla Newberg from Rhode Island; Xavier's Katie Russell; Nicole Wright of Duquesne and Temple's Yun Yi Zhang.
Arroyo earns Student-Athlete of the Year honors after leading the 49ers and ranking third in the Conference in kills (4.32 pg.). One of 14 players in program annals to reach the 1,000-kill milestone, the San Juan, P.R., native was named to the All-Conference first-team in 2005 and earned honorable mention honors this season. She sports a 3.71 grade point average as a pre-kinesiology major and earned ESPN The Magazine second-team All-District honors.
Along with Arroyo, the Academic All-Conference volleyball team consists of teammates Jill Quayle and Kelly Ruth of Xavier; La Salle's Christa Dominic; Whitney Roth of Saint Louis and George Washington's Maggie Wright.
Deaton is in his 18th season as head coach at Xavier and is the winningest coach in program history with 373 career victories. He led the Musketeers to their first-ever wins over ranked opponents this season, including league-rival Dayton, and helped them earn the second-seed in the 2007 A-10 Championship. XU is making its tenth-straight A-10 Championship appearance under Deaton, who earns his fourth A-10 Coach of the Year award. He is a 1978 graduate of West Liberty State.
