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2008 Mountain West All-Conference Volleyball Team Announced
New Mexico's Jeanne Fairchild and Utah's Lori Baird named Co-Players of the Year and UNLV's Cursty Jackson voted Freshman of the Year.
Nov. 25, 2008 COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The Mountain West All-Conference Volleyball awards as selected by the league's nine head coaches were announced today. New Mexico senior Jeanne Fairchild and Utah senior Lori Baird were named Co-Players of the Year, while UNLV's Cursty Jackson was voted Freshman of the Year, and Utah's Beth Launiere was selected Coach of the Year.Fairchild, a native of Albuquerque, N.M., earned her first player of the year honor after leading the Lobos to a third place finish, their highest regular season ranking as members of the Mountain West. Fairchild finished the regular season leading the league in kills per set in overall and conference matches, and points per set in overall and conference matches. Fairchild's 4.84 kills per set presently ranks third in the nation. She also ranked 10th in the MWC in hitting percentage in conference play (.317) and 11th in overall matches (.308). Fairchild set new MWC all-time single season records for total kills in conference matches (280) and kills per set in league matches (4.91). She has also been honored as the MWC Player of the Week three times this season. Baird, a Murray, Utah, product, is also a first time player of the year award recipient. In overall matches, she currently ranks second in blocks per set (1.38), third in kills per set (3.10) and third in points per set (4.07). Baird also ranks in the top-15 in hitting percentage (13th, .292) and service aces per set (11th, 0.23). Nationally, she currently ranks 17th in blocks per set. In conference play, she led the league in blocks per set (1.60), while ranking third in points per set (4.23), fifth in kills per set (3.11), sixth in service aces per set (0.28) and seventh in hitting percentage (.339). Baird was also named MWC Player of the Week four times this season and became just the third MWC student-athlete ever to be named CVU.com National Player of the Week on October 7. Jackson, a middle blocker from Rowland Heights, Calif., earned MWC Freshman of the Year accolades after tallying the Conference's highest freshman ranking in hitting percentage in overall and conference matches (.264 and .236, respectively), kills per set in overall and conference matches (2.55 and 2.72, respectively), and points per set in overall and league play (3.06 and 3.24, respectively). She ranked in the top-20 in all the aforementioned categories overall. Jackson has tallied double-figure kills in eight matches this season and also averages 0.81 blocks and 0.49 digs per set. Launiere was named MWC Coach of the Year for the third time in her career. She led the 21st-ranked Utes to their second outright and third overall MWC regular-season title with a 14-2 conference record. Launiere also guided Utah to its ninth 20-win season in 10 years as members of the Conference. BYU's Rachel Dyer, Colorado State's Mekana Barnes and Ashley Fornstrom, New Mexico's Jeanne Fairchild, UNLV's Melody Nua, and Utah's Lori Baird were repeat selections from last year. Utah's Emillie Toone is a member of the 2008 all-Conference team after being a 2006 selection. She sat out the 2007 season due to injury. BYU's Kayla Walker was joined on the squad by Colorado State's Tessa Nelson, New Mexico's Jade Michaelsen and Gayle Tripp, San Diego State's Lauren Salisbury, TCU's Nirelle Hampton and Christy Hudson, UNLV's Camille Cunningham, and Utah's Karolina Bartkowiak and Kathryn Haynie as first-time honorees.
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