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Six MWC Student-Athletes Named To 2005 AVCA All-West Region Team
Utah's Airial Salvo named West Region Freshman of the Year
Dec. 7, 2005 COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The 2005 American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-Region Teams were announced Tuesday, with six Mountain West athletes being named to the West Region squad. BYU middle blocker Lindsy Hartsock and setter Lauren Evans, Colorado State middle blocker Dre Downs and UNLV middle blocker Lauren Miramontes were honored, along with Utah outside hitters Airial Salvo and Shelly Sommerfeldt. Salvo was named West Region Freshman of the Year. The six all-region volleyball selections are the most ever for the Mountain West in its seven year history. This season marks the seventh straight that the Mountain West Conference was represented on the AVCA All-Region squad. Since 1999, 29 MWC student-athletes have earned all-region accolades and nine have gone on to All-America status. An additional four student-athletes were honorable mention All-Americans. The 2005 All-America team will be announced on Dec. 14. Hartsock, the 2005 MWC Player of the Year, helped the Cougars to their first MWC regular-season crown since 1999 and second NCAA Tournament appearance in three years. The Inkom, Idaho, product, led the conference with a .444 hitting percentage which currently ranks first in the nation. Hartsock also ranked sixth in the league in blocks per game (1.31). She was named conference player of the week twice this season and is currently third on the MWC career list in hitting percentage (.399) and total blocks per game (1.45), as well as sixth in total blocks (448). Evans, a 6-0 senior from Orem, Utah, led the MWC with 13.12 assists per game overall (13.27 per game in conference play), and ranks 19th in the nation as of this week. Her 730 total assists in league matches set the new MWC single-season mark. Evans was named to the all-conference team for the third straight year in 2005. Downs, a Clinton, Utah, native, earned her second straight all-region accolade finishing the season second in the MWC in hitting percentage (.358) and blocks per game (1.50). Her blocks per game total currently is 22nd in the nation. Downs also compiled an average of 3.32 kills and 0.44 digs per game. She is a two-time all-conference honoree. Miramontes, from Upland, Calif., is an honorable mention all-region selection. She was one of four Rebels to play in all 118 games in 2005, while leading the team in kills (418) and kills per game (3.54). At the net she registered an average of 0.96 blocks per game. The 118 games played are tied for the most accumulated in a single-season by the Rebels. Miramontes garnered her first all-conference accolade in 2005. Salvo, a Farmington, Utah, native, becomes the first MWC student-athlete since 2002 to be named West Region Freshman of the Year (Colorado State's Tess Rogers). She finished the 2005 season tallying the conference's highest freshmen ranking in kills per game in overall matches and conference matches (3.36), while tallying a hitting percentage of .248 and averaging a team-high 0.31 assists per game. She also reached double-figure kills in 27 of 32 matches this season, notching 14 double-doubles in the process. Sommerfeldt, the 2005 MWC Tournament MVP, ranked second on the Utes in kills per game (3.57, fifth in the MWC). She also averaged a .233 hitting percentage, and 2.88 digs, 0.92 blocks 0.26 assists, 0.24 service aces per game. She was voted to the All-MWC team for the third time.
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