SWAC Announces 2007 Volleyball All-Conference Honors

The Southwestern Athletic Conference today announced its 2007 Women’s Volleyball All-Conference Honors with Prairie View A&M’s Tamika Newman named the 2007 SWAC Volleyball Player of the Year.

Newman, a 5-foot-10, senior hitter/blocker from Houston, Texas, had an excellent senior campaign facing some of the region’s tougher competition. She averaged 3.55 kills in 101 games played. She totaled 359 kills, 24 aces, 65 digs, and 30 total blocks. Among her peers, she finished second in the conference in kills and points while finishing fourth in hitting percentage. She tallied a season-high 26 kills along with four blocks at Southern; against McNeese State, she concluded her regular season play with 20 kills, seven digs, two aces and two blocks.

The conference’s libero of the year is Alyssa Knaus of Mississippi Valley State. In her senior campaign, she led the conference in digs with 545 total – an average of 5.00 per game. She also tallied 15 kills, 52 aces, 31 assists and a block. She garnered 38 digs versus Southern and 31 digs and six aces versus Alabama A&M. She tallied 20-plus digs 13 times on the season.

Alabama A&M’s Natalie Rodriguez was named the Conference’s Newcomer of the Year. She finished her first season in the SWAC with 716 assists – an average of 10.85 per game (first in the SWAC) along with 66 kills, 26 aces, 144 digs and nine blocks. She had seven matches of at least 40 assists including an 54-assist effort against Mississippi Valley State and six kills, six digs and 49 assists against Albany State.

Mississippi Valley State’s Maura Moed finished her first regular season being named the SWAC Freshman of the Year. She tallied 384 kills (2.60 kills/game – 10th in SWAC), 96 total blocks (6th in SWAC), and 418.5 points (3.58 points/game – 4th in SWAC). Against Centenary, she had 21 kills, 12 digs and two aces. She also finished with a 20-kill, 12 dig effort against Southern.

Mississippi Valley State and Jackson State each had three athletes among the 14 chosen to receive all-conference honors; Prairie View A&M, Grambling State, and Arkansas-Pine Bluff each had two athletes chosen. Alabama A&M and Southern each were represented with one athlete each.

2007 SWAC Volleyball All-Conference Selections