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Mountain West All-Conference Volleyball Team Announced Utah's Airial Salvo named Player of the Year and Utah's Sydney Anderson voted Freshman of the Year
Nov. 22, 2006 LAS VEGAS, Nev. - The Mountain West All-Conference Volleyball awards as selected by the league's nine head coaches were announced today in conjunction with the Mountain West Conference Volleyball Championship in Las Vegas, Nev. The quarterfinal round begins tomorrow, Thursday, November 23, and runs through Saturday, November 25, at Cox Pavilion on the UNLV campus.
Utah sophomore Airial Salvo was named Player of the Year, while teammate Sydney Anderson was voted Freshman of the Year. Ute head coach Beth Launiere collected her second MWC Coach of the Year honor.
Salvo, a native of Farmington, Utah, earned her first player of the year honor leading the Utes to a perfect 16-0 record in conference play (25-2 overall), and their first outright regular-season title as members of the MWC. Salvo finished the regular season leading the league in service aces per game in overall matches, and second in kills per game and points per game in both overall and conference matches. She also finished in the top 10 in hitting percentage and digs per game for all matches. Salvo, a two-time MWC Player of the Week honoree, has reached double-figures kills in 25 of 27 matches played and has notched 15 double-doubles this season.
Anderson, a setter from Salt Lake City, earned MWC Freshman of the Year accolades after tallying the conference's highest freshmen ranking in assists per game in overall matches (12.33) and conference matches (12.78), which is third overall in the conference in both categories. She has reached the 50-assist plateau four times this season, with her career-best effort being 64. Anderson also averages 2.88 digs and 0.78 kills per game.
Launiere was named MWC Coach of the Year for the second time in her career. She led the ninth-ranked Utes to a perfect 16-0 conference mark (25-2 overall), as Utah collected their first outright MWC regular season crown and second conference title overall. Launiere has led the Utes to a school record 23 straight victories, which also ties the all-time league mark for consecutive wins in a season (Colorado State, 2003), as Utah finished the regular season tied for the most wins in the program's history.
Utah had five student-athletes named to this year's all-conference team, while BYU had four student-athletes honored. UNLV had three student-athletes named all-conference, while Colorado State had two student-athletes on the all-conference team. Eight juniors, four sophomores, one senior and one freshman made up the 14-member all-conference squad.
BYU's Chelsea Goodman, Lindsy Hartsock and Erica Lott, UNLV's Maria Aladjova and Lauren Miramontes, and Utah's Airial Salvo were repeat selections from last year. BYU's Rachel Dyer, and Colorado State's Mekana Barnes and Tonya Mokelki were joined on the squad by UNLV's Jada Walker, and Utah's Sydney Anderson, Lori Baird, Emillie Toone and Whitney Webb as first-time honorees.
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