NEW HAVEN, CT - Sophomore outside hitter Ann Casado of Georgian Court University has been named the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Volleyball Player of the Year as the All-Conference teams were released today. Sophomore Ursula Pereira of Bloomfield College has been selected as the Rookie of the Year and Philadelphia University head coach Mark Magarity is the pick for Coach of the Year. Nyack College was given the Annual Team Sportsmanship Award. The conference's 12 head coaches conducted the voting for the awards.
With Casado helping to lead the way, the Lions secured the #2 seed for this week's CACC Tournament with a 15-1 mark in conference play and a 19-10 overall record. Casado finished the regular season ranked second in the CACC in overall kills with 398 and third with 4.57 kills per-game. Casado, who hails from Brick, NJ, also contributed 0.49 service aces per-game and 2.91 digs per-game. Casado was the CACC Player of the Week on October 2.
Pereira excelled in her first collegiate season and led the CACC with 5.03 kills per-game, while ranking fourth with 357 total kills. Pereira, who is from Newark, NJ, added 0.63 service aces, 3.44 digs and 0.59 blocks per-game. Pereira earned CACC Player of the Week honors on Sept. 18th and was the Rookie of the Week on five occasions.
Magarity led the Rams to the top seed for the CACC Tournament with a 15-1 conference record to go with a 24-3 overall mark. Under Magarity's guidance, the Rams have compiled a 36-2 CACC record in their first two seasons as a member of the conference. The Rams had three players named to the All-CACC first team and also had one second team pick to lead the conference.
Post University middle hitter Tadj Williams earned a spot on the first team for the third consecutive season, while Ram outside hitter Emily Krauss and USP libero Claire Tauschek were both first team picks for the second straight year.
The CACC postseason award-winners are listed below.
2006 All-CACC Volleyball Teams
FIRST TEAM
OH Ann Casado Georgian Court So. Brick, NJ
S Kristin Goede Philadelphia Sr. Westborough, MA
OH Emily Krauss Philadelphia Jr. Stormville, NY
MH Molly Malone Philadelphia So. Rochester, NY
OH Ursula Pereira Bloomfield So. Newark, NJ
MH Tadj Williams Post Sr. Albany, NY
L Claire Tauschek USP So. Verona, WI
SECOND TEAM
MH Ashley Carberry Goldey-Beacom Jr. Newark, DE
MH Celeste Lindsey Bloomfield So. Cincinnati, OH
OH Jen O'Connor Holy Family So. Wilmington, DE
S Sonia Perez Bloomfield So. Hackensack, NJ
OH Celena Rendon Philadelphia Fr. San Antonio, TX
OH Kristin Wiedeman Wilmington Sr. Doswell, VA
L Jodie Fridinger Wilmington Fr. Parkville, MD
Honorable Mention: Wendy Paige, Jr., MH, Nyack; Juruena Silveira, Sr., MH, Bloomfield; Kelly Cummins, So., L, Holy Family
Player of the Year: Ann Casado, So., OH, Georgian Court
Rookie of the Year: Ursula Pereira, So., OH, Bloomfield
Coach of the Year: Mark Magarity, Philadelphia
Team Sportsmanship Award: Nyack College