Grizzlies place three on All-RMAC Volleyball squads
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.— The Adams State College Grizzlies placed two Alamosa natives and three overall players on the 2005 All-Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Volleyball Teams that were announced by conference officials on Thursday. Junior outside hitter Tiffany Stockebrand, one of the two Alamosa High School graduates, was a second team pick, while senior outside hitter Emily Bussey, also from Alamosa, and senior libero Jocelyn Garcia (Albuquerque, N.M.) were honorable mention selections. The all-conference honors, decided by a balloting of the league’s head coaches, are the first of each player’s career.
Stockebrand averaged a team-high 4.28 kills per game, second most in the entire 14-team RMAC, and recorded double-doubles in 12 of her 20 matches played. Despite missing the first six matches of the season, she also led the team in total kills (325) and points per game (4.84) while hitting .191, the third best mark on the team. The 6-footer was just behind Bussey, who started all 26 matches, in total points and finished the year with 212 digs, a 2.79 per game average, and 49 blocks, good for a 0.64 per game clip.
Stockebrand had 20 or more kills in four different matches and had double-doubles in six of the team’s final seven contests.
Bussey averaged 3.33 kills and 2.93 digs per game in 2005 and finished her 4-year Grizzly career with 851 kills and 725 digs. The 5-foot-9 Bussey also led the team in total attacks with 966 and set ASC’s NCAA Division II era (1992-Present) record for career attacks with 2,906, the fifth highest overall mark in ASC’s all-time history. She recorded 11 of her 16 career double-doubles in 2005 and had 10 or more kills in each of ASC’s last nine matches.
Garcia is currently ranked third in the RMAC with her 5.03 dig per game average. Recording a team-best 483 digs throughout the campaign, Garcia eclipsed the 20-dig mark in 12 different matches and recorded a career-high 30 at Colorado State-Pueblo on Oct. 22. In the process, Garcia moved past 1,000 digs for her career, which she finished with 1,027, the fifth most in ASC’s Division II history. She was named as the RMAC West Divison Player of the Week on Sept. 6 after earning a spot on the all-tournament team at the AmeriSuites/Mountain Lion Invitational, hosted by the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs.
The 2002 Albuquerque High School graduate was also named to the RMAC’s All-Academic Team for the third time last week. Her older sister, Monica, was a 2003 and 2004 All-RMAC pick while playing for the Grizzlies.
Stockebrand’s selection to the second team was doubly impressive considering all 12 first team picks represented teams that qualified for this weekend’s RMAC Tournament. The Grizzlies, under first year coach Lindy Mortensen, finished ninth in the overall RMAC standings for the second straight year, just missing out of the 8-team affair.
The nation’s top-ranked University of Nebraska-Kearney Lopers, who will host the tournament that starts Friday morning, led the charge by placing three players on the first team. The group was led by middle blocker Erin Gudmundson, who was named as the RMAC/Baden Player of the Year for the second straight season.
The Lopers’ Rick Squiers was named as the RMAC Coach of the Year for the second straight year while the Lopers’ Jill Gergen was tabbed as the RMAC Freshman of the Year.
Metro State’s Gabrielle Curtis was named as the RMAC Setter of the Year while Fort Hays State’s Kelly Skidmore was named as the conference’s defensive player of the year for the third straight campaign.
Related Item: Complete RMAC Release
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