Nov. 11, 2009

CANYON, Texas - Lone Star Conference regular season champion and #6-ranked West Texas A&M Lady Buffs had three first-team selections on the All-LSC volleyball team announced by league officials Wednesday evening during a banquet at the LSC Championship.

WT, which posted a perfect 13-0 league record and is hosting of the LSC Championship that starts tomorrow, had a total of five honorees. Melissa Harper, Laura Prinsen and Katie Rickwartz earned first team acclaim, while Lauren Purdy and Natalie Johnson were second-team selections.

Additionally, Harper was tabbed Offensive Player of the Year and Rickwartz was Setter of the Year for the third straight year in the balloting of LSC head coaches.

In addition to the All-LSC recognition, 59 student-athletes were tabbed for all-academic recognition. West Texas A&M led the selections for the all-academic team with three players on the 14-team list.

The Lady Buffs’ Lauren Thedford was selected as LSC Academic Player of the Year. The junior outside hitter is a political science major and has a perfect 4.0 cumulative grade point average. She was a 2008 LSC All-Academic selection and a member of the 2008 CoSIDA/ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District first team. This season, she has played in all 34 matches with 31 starts and notched 22 service aces and 183 kills.

Melissa Harper and Katie Rickwartz were also named to the academic team, while teammate Natalie Johnson was selected to the Commissioner’s Honor Roll.

The All-Academic Team is selected by the league’s sports information directors, who vote on the basis of both academic and athletic achievement. To be eligible for LSC academic recognition, student-athletes need at least a 3.30 grade point average and must be at least a sophomore.

Also on the academic team, TWU’s Jessica Crow and Kendra Coulson, SWOSU’s Tara Gibby and Emily Walter, Tarleton State’s Shay Gracy, Abilene Christian’s Shawna Hines, Texas A&M-Kingsville’s Kristin Chancellor, Texas A&M-Commerce’s Lauren Flynn, Midwestern State’s Tiana Bond, Southeastern Oklahoma’s Destiny Brown and Angelo State’s Kimber Duncan.