Pride senior middle blocker Elizabeth Curley (Centerville, MA) became Hofstra's first-ever American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-American today when she was named to the AVCA All-America Honorable Mention team, it was announced by the organization this afternoon.
Curley became eligible for All-America status when she earned AVCA All-East Region accolades on December 6.
Curley led Hofstra to a 24-7 record this past season, a campaign that included an appearance in the second round of the NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship. The Pride defeated Cornell, 3-2, on December 1 in the first round before falling in three games to #5 Penn State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament the following day. The victory over Cornell marked the program's first-ever win in NCAA Tournament play, as the Pride advanced to the NCAA Championship with a five-game win over Delaware in the CAA semifinals and a three-game sweep of Virginia Commonwealth in the CAA Championship Match on November 19.
Currently ranked seventh nationally in hitting percentage (.412), Curley led the Pride this season in kills (403), kills per game (3.63), hitting percentage and blocks (137). Also a first team All-CAA selection, Curley was a 2004 All-CAA second team selection and the 2003 CAA Rookie of the Year and became the first player since Ajola Berisha of American in 1998, and third overall, to earn the conference's Player of the Year award after not earning any type of award the previous season. Curley won a multitude of in-season awards this past year, as she was the CAA Player of the Week three times (September 5, October 2 and 23), Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Player of the Week on October 26 and was named to the all-tournament teams at the Hofstra/Asics Invitational, the Columbia Invitational and the CAA Championship. In addition, on November 9 Curley was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District I second team.
The complete list of AVCA All-America recipients can be found here:
http://www.avca.org/collegiate/DIawards/06DIAA.pdf
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