Nov. 26– The second-ranked Concordia volleyball team had four players named to the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-American team.  Maggie McNamara was a first team selection, while Maria Steinhagen was third team and Mary Slinger and Emily Palkert made the honorable-mention team.  Palkert was also named the DII National Freshman of the Year, marking the second straight year Concordia has taken home the honor (McNamara in 2006).

Sophomore Maggie McNamara (Zumbrota, MN), a second team All-American selection in 2006 leads the NCAA and NSIC in assists per game with a 14.38 apg average.  She was first-team all-NSIC selection and five time NSIC setter of the week.  McNamara was named to the NSIC all-tournament team and the NCAA North Central Region all-tournament team earlier in the year.  She has 40-plus assists in 35 matches, 50-plus in 18 matches, 60-plus in 8 and 70-plus in 3 matches and has 11 double-doubles with assists/digs.  She had a season-high 75 assists with career-high 27 digs against Wayne State (10-20) and had 65 assists and career-high six blocks against SW Minnesota State (10-19).

Junior Maria Steinhagen (Alexandria, MN) was a first-team all-NSIC selection and leads the team in hitting percentage (.313). She is averaging 3.59 kills per game with 398 kills on the season.  She also is second on the team in blocks per game with 1.11.  Steinhagen had a season-high 20 kills agaist Northern State (11-2).

Freshman Emily Palkert (Fr., Excelsior, MN) leads the team in kills (529), kills per game (3.98) and blocks with 168 (1.26 bpg).  She was named the NSIC Newcomer of the Year, Daktronics second team all-regiona, first team all-NSIC and to the NCAA North Central Region all-tournament team.  She had a school-record 34 kills at Minnesota Duluth (10-30) and has started every game this season.  She has recorded ten-plus kills in 28 matches and 20-plus in six matches. 

Sophomore Mary Slinger (Faribault, MN), the NSIC Libero of the Year, set new single-season records with 789 digs and 5.93 digs per game average.  She has topped 30-plus digs in five matches this season with a season and career-high 39 against MSU Moorhead (11-9).  She had 20-plus digs in 21 matches this season.  Slinger was also named to the NCAA North Central Region all-tournament team

Concordia has now had 16 AVCA All-Americans in the last five years under Brady Starkey.  The Bears will play California (PA) in the opening round of the NCAA Elite Eight on Thursday, Nov. 29 at 12:00.

Complete Release - http://www.avca.org/collegiate/DIIawards/07DIIAA.pdf

2007 AVCA DIVISION II FIRST-TEAM ALL-AMERICA

Player	Institution	Pos.	Yr.	Ht.	Hometown
Melissa Bartlett	Hillsdale College	OH	Sr.	5-10	Chatham, Ontario
Vicky Braegelmann*$!	University of Minnesota Duluth	RS/Opp.	Sr.	6-0	Albany, Minnesota
Erin Clark	University of Tampa	MB	Sr.	5-11	Tampa, Florida
Erin Contons % ^	Southwest Minnesota State Univ.	OH	Sr.	5-10	Apple Valley, Minnesota
Katelen Dixon *	University of Tampa	OH	Sr.	5-10	Clearwater, Florida
Jessica Granados	California State Univ., San Bernardino	RS/Opp.	Jr.	6-0	Beaumont, California
Liz Holmes	Northern Kentucky University	MB	Sr.	5-10	Cincinnati, Ohio
Tessa Jones @	Washburn University	RS/Opp.	Sr.	6-1	Lee’s Summitt, Missouri
Maggie McNamara %	Concordia University-St. Paul	S	So.	5-9	Zumbrota, Minnesota
Courtney Schneider &	Western Washington University	DS/Lib.	Sr.	5-9	Snohomish, Washington
Margeaux Sinibaldi %	University of Tampa	DS/Lib.	Sr.	5-6	Venice, Florida
Kari Wolford %	University of Minnesota Duluth	OH	Sr.	5-11	Avon, Minnesota

    2007 AVCA DIVISION II SECOND-TEAM ALL-AMERICA

Player	Institution	Pos.	Yr.	Ht.	Hometown
Pamela Cartagena	Pittsburg State University	OH	So.	5-7	Bayamon, Puerto Rico
Allie Cherven	Truman State University	MB	Jr.	6-1	St. Charles, Missouri
Carlie Christensen &	University of Nebraska at Omaha	MB	Sr.	6-0	Omaha, Nebraska
Sharea Drawn	California State Univ. San Bernardino	MB	Sr.	6-0	Sun City, California
Katie Gangelhoff %	University of Minnesota Duluth	S	Jr.	5-8	South St. Paul, Minnesota
Ashley Martin %	Florida Southern College	RS/Opp.	Jr.	6-1	St. Petersburg, Floridas
Monica Miesner ^	Washburn University	OH	Jr.	5-11	Florissant, Missouri
Jillian Ohrman &	University of Central Missouri	MB	Sr.	6-0	Independence, Missouri
Allyson Riley *	Grand Valley State University	DS/Lib.	Sr.	5-9	Battle Creek, Michigan
Emily Schroeder %	Wayne State College (Neb.)	MB	Sr.	5-11	Belden, Nebraska
Beverly Stasis	Florida Southern College	OH	Sr.	5-9	Clearwater, Florida
Lindsay Tye	Ferris State University	OH	Sr.	5-10	Gregory, Michigan

    2007 AVCA DIVISION II THIRD-TEAM ALL-AMERICA

Player	Institution	Pos.	Yr.	Ht.	Hometown
Danielle Alexander	Grand Valley State University	MB	Jr.	5-11	Newport, Michigan
Mallory Clements	Southern Illinois Univ. Edwardsville	S	Jr.	6-0	Mt. Pulaski, Illinois
Renata da Silva	California University of Pennsylvania	S/H	So.	5-8	Sao Paulo, Brazil
Alyssa Given	Seattle Pacific University	OH	Sr.	5-10	Salinas, California
Alisha Green	University of Tampa	MB	So.	6-2	Country Club Hills, Illinois
Sara Hoffman	California State Univ., San Bernardino	S	So.	5-6	San Clemente, California
Melissa Keck	Truman State University	RS/Opp.	Jr.	6-0	Belleville, Illinois
Justyna Michon	Dowling College	OH	Sr.	5-10	Katowice, Poland
Ashley Nachreiner	Minnesota State University, Mankato	OH	Jr.	6-0	Round Rock, Texas
Luciana Rapach	University of West Florida	RS/Opp.	Jr.	5-9	Porto Alegre, Brazil
Maria Steinhagen	Concordia University-St. Paul	MB	Jr.	5-10	Alexandria, Minnesota
Lynsey Warren	Ashland University	S	Sr.	6-1	Worthington, Ohio

   
* indicates 2006 AVCA First-Team All-America selection
% indicates 2006 AVCA Second-Team All-America selection
& indicates 2006 AVCA Third-Team All-America selection
$ indicates 2005 AVCA First-Team All-America selection
^ indicates 2005 AVCA Second-Team All-America selection
@ indicates 2005 AVCA Third-Team All-America selection
! indicates 2004 AVCA First-Team All-America selection    

2007 AVCA Division II Freshman of the Year: Emily Palkert, Concordia University-St. Paul, MB

2007 AVCA Division II Player of the Year: announced November 28, 2007