Junior Florida right-side/setter Kelly Murphy (Wilmington, Ill.) was named First-Team All-America by the American Volleyball Coaches Association to highlight a cast of four Gators earning All-America recognition, as announced by the organization at its annual convention in Kansas City on Wednesday. Murphy becomes the first Florida player to earn AVCA First-Team All-America recognition since Angie McGinnis in 2006.
Florida’s Lauren Bledsoe (Long Beach, Calif.), Kristy Jaeckel (Littleton, Colo.) and Callie Rivers (Winter Park, Fla.) each earned AVCA Honorable Mention All-America recognition for the first times in their respective careers. Murphy will be presented with her award at the AVCA All-America/Players of the Week Banquet presented by Zamst on Friday in Kansas City. The AVCA’s National Player of the Year also will be announced at that time.
Murphy, the 2010 Southeastern Conference Player of the Year, earns All-America recognition for the third consecutive year after being a third-team selection as a freshman in 2008 and a second-team selection as a sophomore in 2009. Murphy, who eclipsed both the exclusive 1,000-kill and 1,000-point plateaus during the 2010 season, was the only player to rank among the SEC’s top-10 individually (all matches combined) in hitting percentage, kills per set and service aces per set. Murphy became just the 17th player in school history to reach 1,000 career kills and ranks ninth all-time in program history in career assists.
Murphy led the SEC with 0.40 service aces per set, while ranking fourth in hitting percentage with a .374 clip and ninth in kills per set with a team-leading 3.04. She also dished out 5.48 assists per set as part of the team’s 6-2 offensive scheme and added 2.15 digs per set and 0.67 blocks per set for a squad-best 3.78 points per set. Murphy tallied seven triple-doubles during the 2010 campaign to give her a school-record 23 triple-dips for her career and added 23 double-doubles during the course of the season. She ranks 26th nationally in hitting percentage and 31st in the nation in service aces per set.
Bledsoe was a 2010 All-SEC First Team selection and an All-South Region honoree, starting each of Florida’s 31 matches at middle blocker. She ranked second on her team and fifth in the SEC with 1.06 blocks per set. She currently ranks 21st in the nation in hitting percentage with a .382 clip. She was fourth on her team in kills per set with 1.92 and tallied double-figure kills on five occasions during the course of the year. Bledsoe posted four or more blocks in 17 contests in 2010.
Jaeckel was a 2010 All-SEC Second Team selection and an All-South Region honoree, starting each of Florida’s 31 matches at outside hitter. She ranked third on the team in kills per set with 2.51 and finished the year ranked eighth in the SEC in service aces per set with 0.28. She recorded double-figure kills in 12 matches during the course of the year, including four of her last seven, and had double-figure digs on seven occasions. Jaeckel charted three double-doubles in 2010, including 18 kills and 12 digs vs. Florida State in the NCAA Second Round, a match in which she had the final two kills in the deciding fifth set.
Rivers was a 2010 All-SEC First Team selection and an All-South Region honoree, starting each of Florida’s 31 matches at outside hitter. She ranked second on the team with 2.54 kills per set and also was second on the team in digs per set with 2.33. Rivers finished the year ranked seventh in the SEC with 0.29 service aces per set. She tallied double-figure kills in 10 matches during the 2010 campaign, including a career-high 21 at LSU on Nov. 21. Rivers finished the season with seven or more kills in 15 consecutive matches and contributed double-figure digs in nine instances in 2010. She tallied three double-doubles this past season.
The selections were made by the AVCA Division I All-America committee, which includes: Keylor Chan (Northwestern), chair; Joe Getzin (Ole Miss); Christy Johnson-Lynch (Iowa State); Mike Jordan (New Mexico State); Anne Kordes (Saint Louis); Lee Maes (Virginia); Andrew Palileo (Washington State) and Lisa Seifert (SMU). The AVCA Awards Chair is Kelly Sheffield (Dayton).
