Ball State University Athletics
Women's Volleyball Places Two on Academic All-MAC Squad
November 23, 2005 | Women's Volleyball
Muncie, Ind. - - Senior outside attacker Sarah Obras (Pendleton, Ind./Pendleton Heights H.S.) and redshirt sophomore setter Angie Parrell (Black Earth, Wis./Wisconsin Heights H.S.) of the Ball State women's volleyball team have selected to the 2005 Academic All-Mid-American Conference squad as voted on by the league's 12 faculty representatives. This is the third-straight season Obras has been named Academic All-MAC, while it is the first for Parrell.
To qualify, a student-athlete must have at least a 3.20 cumulative GPA and have participated in at least 50% of the contests for that particular sport. First-year students and junior college transfers in their first year of residence are not eligible for the award. Outstanding academic and athletic accomplishments from the current season only are considered.
A total of 16 student-athletes were named to the team. The number of honorees on the Academic All-MAC Team are the number that is set for the specific sport or 33% of the number of nominees, whichever is greater.
Obras - - an accounting major with a 3.86 grade-point average - - earned All-MAC Honorable Mention accolades in 2005 after being named to the All-MAC First Team as a freshman, sophomore and junior. The 2002 MAC Freshman of the Year, Obras became the league's all-time career kills leader with 15 at Central Michigan (Nov. 12). In addition, she became the conference's all-time attempts leader and the first player in MAC history to post 1,500 kills and 1,500 digs in a career vs. Eastern Michigan (Oct. 22).
A two-time MAC Scholar Athlete of the Week during the season, Obras was named to the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District V First Team earlier this month. One of two BSU representatives on the MAC All-Tournament Team, Obras tied a season-high with 23 kills in the team's semifinal upset of No. 2 seed Eastern Michigan. On the year, Obras has a 3.17 kills-per-game average and a 3.71 digs-per-game average. In addition, she has tallied a career-best 28 service aces and 43 total blocks on the year after playing in 29 matches and 107 games.
Parrell - - a secondary education in life science and physics major with a 3.77 grade-point average - - earned ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District V Third Team accolades earlier this month. With a career-high 69 assists at Akron (Nov. 4) Parrell became just the seventh player in school history to record over 1,000 assists in a season. Her season total currently stands at 1,294, which ranks seventh in BSU annals.
The first player on the team to earn MAC West Division Player of the Week (Aug. 21-28) this season, Parrell was named to the Georgetown Hoya Classic All-Tournament Team after posting career-highs of 11 kills, 22 attempts and a .500 (11-0-22) attack percentage in the championship match vs. Yale (Sept. 10). Her 53 assists in the contest were also a career-high at the time. On the year, Parrell has an 11.76 assists-per-game average to go along with averages of 1.25 kills per game and 0.79 blocks per game. She has also tallied 18 service aces, while playing in all 30 matches and all 110 games.
The two selections to the Academic All-MAC team pushes the Cardinals total to 50 under the direction of head coach Randy Litchfield, which is the highest total in the MAC over the past 17 seasons.
