Ustymenko Named 2005 BIG EAST Player of the Year
November 17, 2005 | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 17, 2005
PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Louisville senior outside hitter Lena Ustymenko was selected as the 2005 BIG EAST Volleyball Player of the Year to headline the league's major award winners, which were announced by conference officials Thursday, Nov. 17.
Debbie Brown of eighth-ranked Notre Dame was selected as the conference's Coach of the Year, Jessie Nevitt of Cincinnati was named BIG EAST Rookie of the Year and Megan McGrane of Pittsburgh was chosen as Libero of the Year. The conference also announced its all-conference first and second teams.
Ustymenko was a three-time BIG EAST Player of the Week award winner and Collegiate Volleyball Update National Player of the Week honoree on Sept. 19. She helped Louisville to an all-time best 25-1 overall record, a school record No. 6 national ranking and a share of the regular season conference title. A 19-year old senior, Ustymenko was the focal point of a Cardinals offense that is ranked sixth in the country in hitting at 30.7 percent. She posted 5.16 kills per game, which is ranked among the top 15 in the country and swung at a 33.1 percent clip. A reining honorable mention AVCA All-American, Ustymenko also led the BIG EAST in service aces (0.52) and points per game (6.07) against league opponents.
Joining Ustymenko on the 2005 All-BIG EAST First Team is U of L senior middle blocker Jennifer Hoffman, while Cardinal junior outside hitter Ana Yartseva earned All-BIG EAST Second Team honors.
Brown's fifth BIG EAST Coach of the Year honor comes after leading Notre Dame to a 24-2 overall record, 13-1 against BIG EAST opponents. ND's overall record is the best since Brown led her club to a 32-2 overall mark in 1994. During the 2005 season, the Fighting Irish cracked the No. 5 spot in the national rankings for the first time in school history and also became the first team in the BIG EAST to climb that high in the AVCA poll. ND, unranked in the preseason poll, reached the top five on the strength of victories against four national top 15 teams, including then No. 6 Louisville. The Fighting Irish earned a share of the regular season conference title for the 10th time since ND joined the league 11 years ago.
Nevitt became the first player since 2000 to earn five BIG EAST Rookie of the Week awards in the same season. The redshirt freshman played in every game of Cincinnati's 29 matches this season while posting 3.14 kills per game and leading her team in hitting percentage with a 33.8 mark. Against league opponents, she was sixth in the BIG EAST in hitting with a 35.3 percentage. She was also the team's leading blocker overall with 1.36 per game. Nevitt helped her team to an 18-11 overall record, 9-5 in the BIG EAST.
McGrane became the 13th player in NCAA Division I history to amass over 2,000 career digs when she posted 28 on Sept. 16 against then No. 14 Ohio State. She is also ranked among the top five in the NCAA in digs all-time. The former walk-on dug out a season-best 32 attacks in Pittsburgh's upset of then No. 5 Notre Dame on Nov. 6. She leads the conference in digs and is 16th in the nation with 5.67 per game overall. Against league opponents, she averaged 6.33 per game.
Louisville and Notre Dame headlined the all-conference teams by accounting for eight of the 24 honors (12 players on each team). Among those eight were Ustymenko and Hoffman of Louisville, who were unanimous selections to All-BIG EAST First Team accolades. Returning AVCA Honorable Mention All-American Lauren Brewster of Notre Dame was also a unanimous selection. Returning first team all-conference performer Kelly Duan rounded out the list of unanimous selections.
Notre Dame (No. 1), Louisville (No. 2), Syracuse (No. 3), Cincinnati (No. 4), St. John's (No. 5), Pittsburgh (No. 6), Marquette (No. 7) and Villanova (No.8) are all set to compete in the 2005 BIG EAST Championship to be held Nov. 18-20 at the Kentucky International Convention Center. The finals of the conference tournament will be nationally televised live on College Sports Television. Each team hopes to emerge as the conference champion in order to earn the BIG EAST's automatic berth to the 2005 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship.
The BIG EAST Conference Championship figures to be one of the premier league tournaments in the country. It is the only conference championship that includes a pair of teams ranked among the national top 10 (No. 7 Louisville and No. 8 Notre Dame). Additionally, just one other league tournament -- the Southeastern Conference-- (No. 4 Florida and No. 25 Tennessee) has a pair of nationally-ranked teams in its field.
2005 All-BIG EAST First Team
Jessie Nevitt, Cincinnati, R-Fr., MB
Jennifer Hoffman, Louisville, Sr., MB*
Lena Ustymenko, Louisville, Sr., OH*
Kim Todd, Marquette, So., OH/MB
Lauren Brewster, Notre Dame, Sr., MB*
Lauren Kelbley, Notre Dame, Sr., OH/MB
Meg Henican, Notre Dame, Sr., L
Diana Andreyko, Pittsburgh, So., OH
Megan McGrane, Pittsburgh, Sr., L
Hui Ping Huang, St. John's, Fr., MB/OH
Kristen Conway, Syracuse, Sr., OH
Kelly Duan, Syracuse, Sr., RS/MB*
* - denotes unanimous selection
2005 All-BIG EAST Second Team
Maria Pongonis, Cincinnati, Sr., OH
Jenny Neelands, Connecticut, Sr., S
Ana Yartseva, Louisville, Jr., OH
Theresa Coughlin, Marquette, Sr., OH
Adrianna Stasiuk, Notre Dame, So., OPP./OH
Ashley Tarutis, Notre Dame, So., S
Gini Ullery, Pittsburgh, Sr., OH
Lora Yankauskas, Rutgers, Jr., OH/RS
Shameka Mitchell, St. John's, Gr., MB
Aila Dommestrup, Syracuse, Sr., RS/S
Kacy Sellers, Villanova, So., OH/MB
Julie Hockenson, West Virginia, Sr., MB
