Ball State University Athletics
Amanda McCormick Named MAC West Division Player of the Week
November 13, 2006 | Women's Volleyball
Muncie, Ind. - - Ball State women's volleyball senior libero Amanda McCormick (Muncie, Ind./Burris H.S.) has been named the Mid-American Conference West Division Player of the Week as announced today by the league office. McCormick, who picks up the award for the second time this season, shares the honor with Toledo's Shannon Strachan.
With 78 digs in BSU's two matches last week, McCormick continues to etch her name in the Ball State and MAC record books, bringing her single-season total to a BSU and league record 801. The previous record was 758 set by Ball State's Stephanie Keller in 2003. Entering the season, only two players in NCAA Division I history had tallied 800 digs in a season. Minnesota's Paula Gentil posted a NCAA-record 924 in 2004 and Oral Roberts' Becky Dreher scored 821 in 2004.
McCormick started the week with the best single-match dig performance of her career, racking up a 13.0 digs-per-game average in BSU's three-game sweep of Eastern Michigan last Friday. McCormick's 39 digs in the victory tie as the third-most in a three-game set in NCAA History.
McCormick would follow by adding 39 digs in BSU's five-game win over Central Michigan Saturday, helping the Cardinals secure a home match in this week's Mid-American Conference Tournament.
McCormick finished the week with a 9.75 digs-per-game average, raising her NCAA-leading digs-per-game average to an astonishing 7.78. McCormick, who is on pace to become just the second player in NCAA Division I history to record over 7.00 digs-per-game in a season, has posted a 10.0-or-better average in five of BSU's last seven matches. In 2004, Oral Roberts' Becky Dreher ended the year with a 7.02 digs-per-game average. The BSU and MAC single-season mark is 6.32 set by McCormick last season.
In addition, her 78 digs last weekend helped McCormick up her career digs total to 2,246. In two seasons with the Cardinals (2005-06), McCormick has logged 1,528 digs to rank third on BSU's all-time list. Prior to joining the Cardinals, McCormick tallied 718 digs in two seasons at Nebraska (2003-04) to give her a current career total of 2,168.
According to the NCAA Division I record book, McCormick's 2,246 career digs tie for sixth in NCAA history. Only three players have recorded over 2,300 digs in a career, with Hartford's Kim Diehlmann holding the all-time record with 2,780 digs from 1989 to 1992.
McCormick also raised her streak of matches with 30-plus digs to a school-record seven. She collected 30 digs at EMU (Oct. 21), 40 digs at NIU (Oct. 27), 34 digs at WMU (Oct. 28), 38 digs versus Akron (Nov. 2), 31 digs at Toledo (Nov. 4), 39 digs versus EMU (Nov. 10) and 39 digs versus CMU (Nov. 11).
Ball State opens 2006 Mid-American Conference action Tuesday, when it hosts Buffalo at 7 p.m. at Worthen Arena. Admission to the match is $5 for adults and FREEfor volleyball fans 18-and-under, as well as Ball State students with student ID.
