Three earn Volleyball all-region honors
AUSTIN, Texas-- Individual accolades continue to roll in for three Texas volleyball players - Leticia Armstrong, Brandy Magee and Michelle Moriarty. After already garnering First Team All-Big 12 honors this season, all three Longhorns were voted to the American Volleyball Coaches Association All-Central Region First Team, released Wednesday. The first-team honors are the first for all three players, as Moriarty was an AVCA All-Central Region Honorable Mention selection in 2004 as a freshman. Texas (24-5), which entered the NCAA Tournament ranked seventh nationally and finished second in the Big 12 Conference with a 17-3 mark, was one of three teams to place at least three players on the All-Central Region team, joining Nebraska (four) and Missouri (three). Big 12 student-athletes comprised the entire 12-member first team. UT's three selections mark the first time since 1995 that UT has placed more than two players on the AVCA's all-region team. Armstrong, Magee and Moriarty now advance to the ballot for AVCA All-America honors, which will be announced next week in conjunction with the 2005 NCAA Volleyball Championships in San Antonio. Armstrong, a 6-1 sophomore middle blocker from Elkhart, Ind., paced the team almost all season in hitting percentage, while also leading the team in total blocks (135) and blocks per game (1.36). She finished the season hitting .356, with 316 kills for a 3.19 kills per game mark. In Big 12 matches, Armstrong ranked in the top 10 among all league players in four different categories. Magee, a 6-2 junior middle blocker from Mission Viejo, Calif., led the team in hitting percentage (.377) and is currently ranked 24th nationally in the category. That mark is the third-highest single-season hitting mark in Texas history. Magee was second on the UT squad with 321 kills and a 3.24 kills per game mark while also recording a career-high 109 blocks (1.10 blocks per game). Magee finished the Big 12 slate ranked in four different categories (hitting percentage, blocks, aces and points). Moriarty, a 5-10 sophomore setter from Houston, recorded 1,392 assists this season, the eighth-highest single-season total in UT history. Moriarty's 13.38 assists per game average ranks 10th nationally, as she led the Horns to a .272 hitting percentage. In the last two years, Moriarty has paced UT to its top two hitting marks in program history as the '04 Horns hit a program record .305. Moriarty is ranked second in the Big 12 in assists and will begin her junior season 431 assists shy of sixth place in the UT career assists records. The Longhorns, currently ranked 13th nationally, suffered a 3-1 defeat to No. 7 Hawaii in the NCAA Tournament Second Round on Saturday, Dec. 3 to close their season. 2005 AVCA All-Central Region Team Central Region Freshman of the Year: Jordan Larson, Nebraska, OH
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