Nov. 19, 2003
Georgia Tech’s Kele Eveland (Grand Rapids, Mich.) was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year while Marisa Aston (Huntington Beach, Calfi.), Lynnette Moster (Liberty, Ind.), Alexandra Preiss (Berlin, Germany), and Lauren Sauer (Huntsville, Ala.), were each named to all-Atlantic Coast Conference volleyball teams Wednesday afternoon. The Yellow Jackets, the 2003 ACC Volleyball regular season champions, led all teams with five honorees on this season’s All-Conference teams.
Eveland garnered the Player of the Year title after a stellar senior season. The starting setter currently leads the conference and nation in assists per game at 15.06 and runs an offense which is ranked first in the nation in assists per game and kills per game and fourth in hitting percentage. In addition to being named Player of the Year, Eveland also earned first team all-ACC honors for the first time in her career, marking the fourth year she has received all-conference accolades. Eveland joins former standouts Kerry Annel (1992-95) and Maja Pachale (1998-2001)as the only other players from Georgia Tech to earn the distinction as Player of the Year.
Joining Eveland on the all-ACC first team were Moster and Preiss. Moster earned first-team accolades for the second time in her career after starting the entire season at outside hitter for the Jackets. Moster currently leads the team in kills (410) and is ranked second in the conference in kills per game (4.32) is fourth in service aces per game (0.40) and is ranked ninth in hitting percentage (.317). This is the third season that the outside hitter has received all-conference honors.
Preiss garners first team all-ACC honors for the first time in her career, after receiving second team all-ACC honors in 2002. The starting middle blocker currently leads the ACC and ranks seventh in the nation in hitting percentage (.427) and is second on the team in blocks, averaging 1.06 per game. In addition, she ranks 10th on Georgia Tech’s career kill list with 1,121 and is fifth on the career block assist list with 357.
Sauer earned second team all-ACC after starting the entire year as an outside hitter for the Jackets. Sauer ranks second on the team and third in the ACC in kills per game (4.22) and is ranked 6th in the conference in hitting percentage (.327). The Huntsville, Ala., has earned ACC Player of the Week honors twice this season and recorded a team-high 30 kills in a match earlier this season against No. 24 Wisconsin. This marks the second time Sauer has garnered all-ACC accolades in her career.
Also garnering second team all-ACC honors is Marisa Aston who was recognized for her play as a libero. Aston, earning all-conference honors for the first time in her career, currently ranks first on the team in digs (368), averaging 3.83 per game, which ranks fourth in the ACC, and recorded a career-high 29 digs ina match earlier this year.
No. 6 Georgia Tech (28-1, 15-1 ACC) enters the 24th annual ACC Championship tournament as the number one seed and will face either ninth seeded NC State (7-24, 0-16) or eighth seeded Florida State (15-15, 5-11) at 1:30 p.m. on Friday. The tournament is being held at the Disney Wide World of Sports in Orlando, Fla., and the championship match will be broadcast live on the ACC Regional television package (Fox Sports Net South, Home Team Sports, Sunshine Network, Comcast Sports) on Sunday at 3:30 p.m.
