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Eight MWC Athletes Named To 2006 AVCA All-West Region Team
Utah's Sydney Anderson named West Region Freshman of the Year.
Dec. 6, 2006 COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The 2006 American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-Region Teams were announced Wednesday, December 6, with eight Mountain West athletes being named to the West Region squad. BYU outside hitter Chelsea Goodman and Utah's Airial Salvo (So., OH), Emillie Toone (Jr., MB) and Whitney Webb (Jr., RS/Opp) were honored. The Cougars' Rachel Dyer (So., MB) and Erica Lott (Jr., RS/Opp), and Utah's Lori Baird were named honorable mention. Utah freshman Sydney Anderson was named West Region Freshman of the Year. The eight all-region volleyball selections are the most ever for the Mountain West in its eight-year history. This season marks the eighth straight that the Mountain West Conference was represented on the AVCA All-Region squad. Since 1999, 37 MWC student-athletes have earned all-region accolades and nine have gone on to All-America status. An additional eight student-athletes were honorable mention All-Americans. The 2006 All-America team will be announced on Dec. 14. Goodman, a 5-11 junior from Mesa, Ariz., led the MWC with 4.49 kills and 5.19 points per game. Her 34 career double-doubles currently ranks third all-time in the MWC. Goodman was named to the all-conference team for the second straight year in 2006. Salvo, the 2006 MWC Player of the Year, helped the Utes to their first-ever outright MWC regular-season crown and ninth straight NCAA Tournament appearance. The Farmington, Utah, product, led the conference with 0.45 service aces per game. She also ranked second in kills per game (4.11) and points per game (4.96), while also ranking in the top-10 in hitting percentage (.287) and digs per game (3.35). She was named conference player of the week twice this season and is currently fifth on the MWC career list in kills per game (3.72) and eighth in service aces per game (0.34). Toone, an American Fork, Utah, native, earned her first all-region selection after finishing the season first in the MWC in total blocks (207) and blocks per game (1.93), and second in hitting percentage (.369). Her blocks per game total is currently second in the nation. Toone's 1.93 blocks per game average is the highest ever in the MWC, while her 207.0 total blocks in 2006 is third on the all-time conference season charts. Webb, an all-conference selection and two-time MWC player of the week honoree in 2006, ranked second on the Utes in hitting percentage (.344, fourth in the MWC) and kills per game (3.13, fifth in the MWC), while finishing third in blocks per game (1.29, sixth in the MWC) and digs per game (2.66). Anderson, a setter from Salt Lake City, earned AVCA West Region Freshman of the Year honors after tallying the conference's highest freshmen ranking in assists per game in overall matches (12.45) and conference matches (12.78), which is third overall in the conference in both categories. She has reached the 50-assist plateau six times this season, with her career-best effort being 64. Anderson also averaged 3.15 digs and 0.74 kills per game.
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