Tuck named to RMAC's All-Tournament Team

Junior outside hitter Andrea Tuck had 23 digs and four blocks in two RMAC Tournament matches.

KEARNEY, Neb.— For the second straight year, Adams State College volleyball standout Andrea Tuck (Erie, Colo.) has been named to the All-Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament Team.  The team was announced following Sunday’s Championship match here in the University of Nebraska-Kearney’s Health & Sports Center.

Tuck, a 6-foot junior outside hitter recorded 53 kills, an average of 5.89 per set, while hitting an impressive .417 as the eighth-seeded Grizzlies defeated the host and top-seeded Lopers in the quarterfinal round before bowing out in the semifinals to eventual tournament champion Regis University in the semifinals.

In the quarterfinal victory over UNK, ranked fifth in the Bison/American Volleyball Coaches Association Division II Top 25 Poll at time, Tuck put down a career-high 29 kills while hitting .406.  She also had 12 digs in the match, good for her 10th double-double of the season, as the Grizzlies defeated the Lopers for the first time in school history.

Tuck had another 24-kill, 11-dig double-double effort in Saturday’s semifinal against Regis.  She also hit .431 in that match and had two blocks in each of ASC’s two matches.

Tuck, who was selected to the First Team All-RMAC squad for the second straight season last year, finished the 2008 season with 483 kills, fourth most in ASC single-season history and just 20 shy of her First Team All-Southwest Region season, quite a feat considering sets are now played to just 25 games in comparison to last year’s 30-point games.

Tuck, who leads the entire RMAC by wide margins in both kills (4.27) and points (4.74) per set, already set the NCAA Division II era (1992-Present) school record for career kills.  With 986 kills already in her 2-year career as a Grizzly, Tuck is on pace to surpass the all-time record of 1,421, held by Jennifer Owens.

She was ranked first in the Central Region and ninth nationally with her 4.13 kills per set average and could move up considerably when this week’s statistics are released.

Joining Tuck on the all-tournament team were three Regis players in MVP Jessica Howe, Devin Eckhardt and Liz Franz, Mesa State’s Alisan Tompkins and Tara King and Colorado Mines’ Elizabeth Serra-Hsu.

The Grizzlies finished the season with a 15-13 record for the second straight year.  They went 11-8 in conference play and went 3-2 against nationally-ranked teams with two of those wins coming over teams ranked in the top 10 at the time.