Ball State University Athletics
Women's Volleyball Places Two on All-MAC Squads
November 16, 2006 | Women's Volleyball
TOLEDO, Ohio - - With the 2006 Mid-American Conference Tournament set to kick into high gear Friday at the SeaGate Centre in Toledo, the league announced its All-MAC and All-Freshmen squads Thursday evening, which is highlighted by a pair of BSU student-athletes. The recipients, as voted in by the leagues' 12 head coaches, include senior libero Amanda McCormick (Muncie Ind./Muncie Burris H.S.) as an All-MAC First Team honoree and freshman outside attacker Julie Breivogel (Boonville, Ind./Boonville H.S.) as a MAC All-Freshman Team selection.
"It is fantastic to see a great libero selected for the All-MAC First Team," said BSU head coach Randy Litchfield. "All year long, Amanda has been our biggest playmaker. She is not only consistent, she is consistently great.
"This is clearly the best crop of freshman the league has ever had, with at least a dozen players who deserve recognition," Litchfield added. "All that makes Julie's selection even more impressive."
McCormick's selection to the All-MAC First Team marks a league-record 14th-straigth season that a Ball State women's volleyball player has been honored on the league's top team. A second team All-MAC selection last season, McCormick currently leads the nation with a 7.69 digs-per-game average. She 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, having posted a 10.0-or-better average in five of BSU's last eight matches. In 2004, Oral Roberts' Becky Dreher ended the year with a 7.02 digs-per-game average. The BSU and Mid-American Conference single-season mark is 6.32 set by McCormick last season.
McCormick also owns the nation's highest dig total on the year, having racked up 830 digs in BSU's 29 matches. Entering the week, she was the only player in the country to have collected over 800 digs this season. McCormick's season total, which is a BSU and MAC single-season record, ranks second in NCAA Division I record books, behind only Minnesota's Paula Gentil who posted 924 digs in 2004.
In her two seasons with the Cardinals (2005-06), McCormick has logged 1,557 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 2,275. According to the NCAA Division I Record Book, McCormick's 2,275 career digs place fifth in NCAA history, two better then the BSU and MAC's career record-holder Stephanie Keller who racked up 2,273 digs from 2001-2004. Only three players in NCAA history 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, a two-time MAC West Division Player of the Week, was named CVU.com National Player of the Week after becoming the first player in BSU and league history to record 50 digs in a match with an even 50 versus Toledo (Sept. 28). On the year, she has tallied double-figure digs in 28 of BSU's 29 matches, 20-or-more digs on 23 occasions, 30-or-more digs in 14 contests and 40-or-more digs four times.
With her selection to the MAC All-Freshman squad, Breivogel becomes just the seventh player in school history to be named among the league's top first-year players. BSU's last selection to the squad came in 2003, when current BSU senior Kelly Cochran was in her first year with the program.
Breivogel has sparked the BSU offense all season and currently leads the team and ranks in the top 10 in the league with a 3.46 kills-per-game average. Joining McCormick as the only two players to see action in all of BSU's 108 games, Breivogel has amassed 374 kills so far this season and is hitting at a .185 clip. She also leads the team with 409 points, while adding 164 digs, 37 total blocks and nine aces. Breivogel has paced the Cardinals in kills a team-best 16 times, while racking up double-figure kills in a team-high 22 contests.
Breivogel proved to be a clutch player in BSU's wins over Eastern Michigan and Central Michigan last weekend, smashing the winning kill in each match to help the Cardinals secure a MAC Tournament First Round home match versus No. 11 seed Buffalo.
No. 6 seed Ball State will continue play in the 2006 MAC Tournament Friday, when it faces No. 3 seed Bowling Green in the 1:30 p.m. quarterfinal match at the SeaGate Centre in Toledo, Ohio. The Cardinals are 6-0 all-time versus BGSU in MAC Tournament matches, including a 3-2 victory in the most recent tournament meeting Nov. 23, 2001.
