OMAHA, Neb. -- A pair of players from the Creighton Volleyball team were honored by the Missouri Valley Conference at the league’s annual banquet earlier this morning. Jessica Houts was named a first-team all-MVC pick, while Megan Bober was voted to the MVC’s All-Freshman Team.
Houts earns her second-straight All-MVC first team nod. She leads the Valley in blocks per set with 1.48, which currently ranks 10th in the nation, while the Bluejays rank third nationally as a unit. She also averages 1.16 digs per set, making her the only player in the country to average more than 1.40 blocks and 1.00 digs per set.
Houts led the Jays in attack percentage, kills, blocking and points during the conference season. The senior middle blocker was the league’s No. 3 point-getter with 411.0 (3.77/set) and ranked No. 9 in kills per set with 2.83.
Houts owns Creighton school records for matches played, sets played, total blocks, block assists and blocks per set, and also ranks among the top-five in kills, kills per set and attack percentage.
Houts is just the sixth Creighton player named all-MVC in multiple seasons, joining a select group that includes Kelly Goc, Korie Lebeda, Leah Ratzlaff, Kailey Reyes and Melissa Walsh. She was also a second-team selection in 2006.
Bober ranks fourth in the conference in assists per set, and second among freshman setters, averaging 10.27 in MVC matches, while setting at a .333 percentage during MVC contests. She registered 12 matches with 40 or more assists and notched a career-high 57 assists in the Bluejays match at Evansville on Oct. 16.
Bober has already set a Creighton single-season record for blocks in a season by a setter with 104 stuffs, and is the only player in Bluejay history to record 100 assists and 100 blocks in the same campaign.
Bober becomes the 10th Creighton player named to the MVC’s All-Freshman or All-Newcomer Team. She is CU’s first honoree since 2007, when Allie Oelke took home MVC Freshman of the Year accolades.
Fourth-seeded Creighton (13-16) returns to action later tonight at 8 pm when it hosts fifth-seeded Drake in the second quarterfinal of the 2009 State Farm MVC Tournament in Omaha, Neb. The first quarterfinal will begin at 6 pm and feature third-seeded Wichita State against sixth-seeded Southern Illinois.
First Team All-Missouri Valley Conference Jessica Houts, Creighton Mallory Leggett, Illinois State Calli Norman, Missouri State Cara Hackmann, Missouri State Kelley Michnowicz, Missouri State Bre Payton, Northern Iowa Shannon Aschoff, Northern Iowa Ellie Blankenship, Northern Iowa Michelle Burow, Northern Iowa Jennifer Berwanger, Southern Illinois Emily Stockman, Wichita State Mary Elizabeth Hooper, Wichita State Sarah McGee, Wichita State
Second-Team All-Missouri Valley Conference Chelsea Lauersdorf, Drake Michelle Reidy, Drake Emily Wandersee, Evansville Whitney Fromm, Indiana State Addie Foley, Missouri State Kim Wadsworth, Wichita State
Missouri Valley Conference All-Freshman Team Megan Bober, Creighton Emily Heffernen, Drake Angela Rego, Illinois State Amy Braun, Northern Iowa Krista DeGeest, Northern Iowa Rachael Brown, Southern Illinois
Player of the Year: Bre Payton, Northern Iowa Libero of the Year: Cara Hackmann, Missouri State Defensive Player of the Year: Cara Hackmann, Missouri State Freshman of the Year: Amy Braun, Northern Iowa Coach of the Year: Bobbi Petersen, Northern Iowa
