BATON ROUGE — LSU sophomore Lauren DeGirolamo and junior Elena Martinez earned Honorable Mention All-America honors, as announced by the America Volleyball Coaches Association on Wednesday.
The AVCA All-America team consisted of 12 players on each of the first, second and third teams and 64 players named honorable mention selections. DeGirolamo and Martinez become the third and fourth Tigers to be honored as All-Americans since Angie Miller was a first-team selection and Daniela Reis earned second team honors in 1992. This is also the third-straight year LSU has had an AVCA Honorable Mention All-America selection, after Ivana Kuzmic earned the honor in 2005 and Daniela Romero earned the honor last season.
The honor marks the first All-America award of DeGirolamo’s career after earning first-team All-SEC and All-South Region honors earlier this year. She was named the Collegiate Volleyball National Player of the Year on Nov. 13 for the second time in her career, and was selected the SEC Defensive Player of the Week on Oct. 8.
Leading the team and ranked second in the SEC in blocks per game, DeGirolamo is ranked in the top 20 in the nation this season. In addition, she ranks in the top 10 in hitting percentage in the league and is ranked 87th nationally, while ranking second on the team in kills per game. She finished the season ranked fourth in single-season block assists, fifth in single-season blocks and sixth in blocks per game in LSU history. After only two seasons, she has recorded over 750 kills and ranks 10th in career blocks.
Against Mississippi State, she recorded 11 blocks, her best blocking match in SEC play, to go along with 20 kills for her only double-double in conference action. The Belleville, Ill., native recorded a career-best 12 blocks against Rice, which tied for the fourth most blocks in a four-game match in LSU history. With 17 kills against the Owls, it was her first double-double of the season. She also recorded a double-double in her final regular season match against Tulane.
In 22 of the Tigers’ 33 matches, the Most Valuable Player of the Mizuno Tiger Classic and the Mizuno Invitational II recorded double-figure kills, including six 20-kill matches. Also an outstanding student, DeGirolamo was a first-team ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District selection with a 3.91 grade point average in math.
The SEC Defensive Player of the Year and a two-time SEC Defensive Player of the Week selection, Martinez broke the 21-year-old conference record for digs in a single season and recorded the 11th most digs in a single season in NCAA history. She is the only player in SEC history to record 700 digs in a single season and earned the All-America award for the first time in her career.
Averaging 5.61 digs per game for the year, she leads the league in digs per game and ranks 35th nationally. Against Alabama, she shattered the LSU single-match record for digs with 43, the most by a player in the conference this season and the only Tiger to ever record 40 digs in a match.
In just her first season as the starting libero, the New Orleans native recorded double-figure digs in every match and posted 21 or more digs in 30 of the LSU’s 33 matches. Only the second Tiger to ever record 30 digs in a match, she accomplished the feat on five occasions this season.
A member of the Iowa Challenge All-Tournament team, she broke the LSU record for digs in a four-game match with 33 against Arkansas and now holds three of the top four marks all-time in four-game matches. Overall, she holds eight of the top 10 dig marks in school history.
2007 AVCA DIVISION I FIRST-TEAM ALL-AMERICA
2007 Division I AVCA Freshman of the Year: Juliann Faucette, Texas, OH
2007 Division I AVCA Player of the Year: Announced at AVCA All-America/Players of the Year Banquet on Dec. 14, 2007
2007 AVCA DIVISION I FIRST-TEAM ALL-AMERICA
Player
Institution
Pos.
Yr.
Ht.
Hometown
Foluke Akinradewo * @
Stanford
MB
Jr.
6-3
Plantation, Florida
Cynthia Barboza *
Stanford
OH
Jr.
6-0
Long Beach, California
Juliann Faucette
Texas
OH
Fr.
6-2
San Diego, California
Nicole Fawcett * @
Penn State
OH
Jr.
6-4
Zanesfield, Ohio
Christa Harmotto $
Penn State
MB
Jr.
6-2
Aliquippa, Pennsylvania
Megan Hodge *
Penn State
OH
So.
6-3
Durham, North Carolina
Asia Kaczor $
Southern California
RS/Opp.
Sr.
6-4
Wroclaw, Poland
Bryn Kehoe $ +
Stanford
S
Sr.
5-11
North Bend, Ohio
Christal Morrison * % +
Washington
OH
Sr.
6-2
Puyallup, Washington
Sarah Pavan * ^ #
Nebraska
RS/Opp.
Sr.
6-5
Kitchener, Ontario
Angie Pressey $
California
OH
Sr.
5-8
Heathrow, Florida
Nellie Spicer *
UCLA
S
Jr.
5-10
Barrington, Illinois
2007 AVCA DIVISION I SECOND-TEAM ALL-AMERICA
Player
Institution
Pos.
Yr.
Ht.
Hometown
Taylor Carico
Southern California
S
So.
5-11
Manhattan Beach, California
Hana Cutura
California
OH
So.
6-3
Zagreb, Croatia
Brittney Dolgner
Wisconsin
OH
So.
6-0
Waupun, Wisconsin
Alisha Glass
Penn State
S
So.
6-0
Leland, Michigan
Rachel Holloway !
Nebraska
S
So.
5-10
Franklin, Tennessee
Destinee Hooker
Texas
OH
So.
6-4
San Antonio, Texas
Christina Houghtelling ^
Nebraska
OH
Sr.
6-2
Cambridge, Nebraska
Alix Klineman
Stanford
OH
Fr.
6-4
Manhattan Beach, California
Gorana Maricic
Oregon
OH
Jr.
6-3
Subotica, Serbia
Angie McGinnis * +
Florida
S
Sr.
5-11
Fraser, Michigan
Tracy Stalls $
Nebraska
MB
Sr.
6-3
Denver, Colorado
Jessica Swarbrick !
Washington
MB
Jr.
6-1
El Dorado, California
2007 AVCA DIVISION I THIRD-TEAM ALL-AMERICA
Player
Institution
Pos.
Yr.
Ht.
Hometown
Kylie Atherstone
Cal Poly
RS/Opp.
Jr.
6-1
Chico, California
Mekana Barnes
Colorado State
MB
Jr.
6-0
Highlands Ranch, Colorado
Chelsea Goodman
Brigham Young
OH
Sr.
5-11
Mesa, Arizona
Marcie Hampton
Florida
OH
Sr.
6-1
Gainesville, Florida
Hui Ping Huang
St. John’s
MB
Sr.
6-2
Shanghai, China
Nataly Korobkova
Kansas State
RS/Opp.
Jr.
6-3
Krasnoyarsk, Russia
Jordan Larson *
Nebraska
OH
Jr.
6-2
Hooper, Nebraska
Tamari Miyashiro
Washington
DS/Lib.
So.
5-7
Kanehoe, Hawai’i
Michelle Moriarty !
Texas
S
Sr.
5-10
Houston, Texas
Lauren Paolini
Texas
MB
Jr.
6-5
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Taylor Reineke
Wisconsin
MB
Sr.
6-3
Naperville, Illinois
Ashley Schatzle
Michigan State
OH
Sr.
6-1
Monroe, Michigan
* indicates 2006 AVCA First-Team All-America selection
^ indicates 2005 AVCA First-Team All-America selection
# indicates 2004 AVCA First-Team All-America selection
$ indicates 2006 AVCA Second-Team All-America selection
@ indicates 2005 AVCA Second-Team All-America selection
% indicates 2004 AVCA Second-Team All-America selection
! indicates 2006 AVCA Third-Team All-America selection
+ indicates 2005 AVCA Third-Team All-America selection
2007 AVCA Division I Honorable Mention All-America
Ashley Adams (Middle Tennessee, RS/Opp., Jr.)
Jackie Ahlers (Stony Brook, OH, Sr.)
Megan Argabright (Western Kentucky, MB, Jr.)
Ashley Asberry (Middle Tennessee, MB, Jr.)
Stephanie Barry (Delaware, DS/Lib., So.)
Kelly-Anne Billingy (Marshall, RS/Opp., Sr.)
Latoya Blunt (St. John’s, MB, Sr.)
Natalie Bogan (Rice, MB, So.)
Abbey Breit (Jacksonville State, OH, Sr.)
Jade Brown (Maryland, OH, Sr.)
Katie Bruzdzinski (Michigan, OH, Sr.)
Shelby Burton (Memphis, MB, Sr.)
Alona Cherkez (Villanova, OH, Sr.)
Alexis Crimes (Long Beach State, MB, Sr.)
Elyse Cusack (Florida, DS/Lib., So.)
Lauren DeGirolamo (LSU, MB, So.)
Carrie DeMange (Duke, MB, Sr.)
Svetlana Dukule (Louisville, OH, Sr.)
Rachel Dyer (BYU, MB, Jr.)
Didem Ege (Clemson, DS/Lib., So.)
Justine Farmer (Houston, OH, Jr.)
Leanne Felsing (Wisconsin-Milwaukee, S/H, Sr.)
Elizabeth Fleming (Marshall, S, Fr.)
Ashley Fornstrom (Colorado State, S, Jr.)
Kelly Goc (Creighton, MB, Sr.)
Melissa Griffin (Ohio, RS/Opp., Sr.)
Marcela Gurgel (South Florida, OH, So.)
Ali Hausfeld (Duke, S, Sr.)
Danielle Hepburn (Clemson, MB, Jr.)
Jaclyn Houston (Cal Poly, MB, Jr.)
Jamie Houston (Hawai’i, OH, Jr.)
Crystal Hudson (Alabama, MB, Sr.)
Talisa Kellogg (Georgia Tech, OH, Jr.)
Sarah Kirkwood (Virginia, OH, Sr.)
Wioleta Leszczynska (St. John’s, S, Jr.)
Sara Lungren (Wichita State, RS/Opp., Sr.)
Stephanie Lynch (Purdue, MB, Jr.)
Elena Martinez (LSU, DS/Lib., Jr.)
Crystal Matich (Santa Clara, S, Sr.)
Jenn Miller (Tulane, DS/Lib., So.)
Lauren Miramontes (UNLV, MB, Sr.)
Rachael Moss (Duke, OH, So.)
Kelsey Murphy (Clemson, S, So.)
Amanda Nielson (Utah State, RS/Opp., Sr.)
Queen Nzenwa (Kentucky, MB, Jr.)
Kim Oguh (New Mexico State, MB, Sr.)
Angie Porche (Valparaiso, OH, So.)
Jill Quayle (Xavier, MB, Sr.)
Sara Radosevic (Tulane, OH, Jr.)
Jamie-Lee Richards (Dayton, OH, Sr.)
Yarimar Rosa (Florida International, OH, So.)
Erin Schroeder (Dayton, S, Jr.)
Julia Silva (Tulsa, S, Sr.)
Jackie Simpson (Wisconsin, S, Sr.)
Ulrike Stegemann (Georgia Tech, RS/Opp., Sr.)
Meghan Steiner (Clemson, MB, Sr.)
Jaime Strauss (Colorado State, OH, Jr.)
Rubena Sukaj (American, OH, Jr.)
Bridget Wells (Tulane, RS/Opp., Jr.)
Lena Yee (St. John’s, DS/Lib., Jr.)
Brittany Zahn (Appalachian State, OH, Sr.)
Lexi Zimmerman (Michigan, S, Fr.)