Jan. 20, 2008

DAYTON, Ohio -  The University of Dayton volleyball team took time to reflect on another successful season and honor some outstanding individual accomplishments during its annual postseason awards banquet on Sunday afternoon at UD Arena's Boesch Lounge.

Dayton enjoyed its best season in program history in 2007 with a 33-2 overall record culminating with a trip to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The Flyers were ranked in the CSTV/AVCA Top 25 Coaches Poll for the first time ever and reached as high as 12th in the Poll at one point. UD won its fourth straight Atlantic 10 Regular Season Championship and took home the Atlantic 10 Tournament Title for the fourth time in five years.

The Flyers also hosted NCAA First and Second Round matches for the first time ever in front of sold-out crowds at Frericks Center. Two Dayton players also took home AVCA All-America honors to give the program eight such honorees since Tim Horsmon took over as head coach in 2003. Horsmon was also named the 2007 AVCA Northeast Region Coach of the Year.

Four individual awards were handed out on Thursday night with senior Adrienne Green and redshirt junior Erin Schroeder sharing 2007 White-Allen Most Valuable Player honors. Junior Kortney Norris was given the Dr. R. Elaine Driedame Coach's Award. Classmate Bethany Akerhielm celebrated her 21st birthday by being tabbed as the team Most Improved Player and senior Adrienne Green also won the "Nails" award, which is given to player who plays with extraordinary intensity.

Senior libero Adrienne Green entered her final collegiate season as Dayton's all-time leader in career digs. She finished with 2,070 to rank 18th all-time in NCAA history while averaging 4.43 career digs per game to rate 19th all-time. Green posted over 530 digs in each of her final three seasons while leading the Flyer defense to an A-10 best .144 opponent hitting percentage.

Schroeder paced UD to 21 victories by 3-0 sweep by controlling the Flyer offensive and defensive attack throughout the season. Dayton tallied kills on 42.1 percent of the balls set by Schroeder who averaged 12.01 assists per game in 2007. She was also second on the team with 2.84 digs per game and is more than 80 percent of the way to becoming just the second player in program history to record both 1,000 career assists and 1,000 career digs. Schroeder was Second Team All-Conference selection this season while also being named to the All-Championship Team.

Norris was a consistent all-around player for the Flyers this season after missing most of the 2006 campaign due to injury. She started all 35 matches and was the only player on the UD roster to average at least 2.00 kills per game and 2.00 digs per game. Norris was also one of just five Flyers to tally double digits in service aces. Her versatility was best shown during the A-10 Championships when she posted 10 kills in a semifinal-round victory over Temple and 10 digs in the A-10 Championship Match win against Xavier.

Akerhielm was named to the A-10 First Team this season after leading the team in blocks with 1.19 bpg. She was also second on the team in hitting percentage (.343) and third in kills (2.60 kpg). Akerhielm was named the A-10 Player of the Week after earning MVP honors at the Mortar Board Premier when the Flyers defeated Purdue, Utah and North Carolina. She was also one of five Flyers to tally at least 30 service aces on the year.