Three Seahawk Volleyball Players Earn All-CAC Honors

Junior outside hitter Katie Ewing

York, Pa. - The 2008 All-Capital Athletic Conference volleyball teams were released Tuesday afternoon by conference commissioner, Tom Byrnes.  St. Mary's College of Maryland, who finished as the CAC runner-up for the second straight season, garnered three Seahawks on the all-conference teams.

Junior Katie Ewing (Gaithersburg, Md./Quince Orchard) headlined the trio with her first team selection, while senior Becca Tursell (Ellicott City, Md./Glenelg) and sophomore Claire Kodan (Olney, Md./Sherwood) earned second team accolades.

This is Ewing's first appearance on the All-CAC First Team after leading all conference hitters with a .356 hitting percentage.  The 6-1 outside hitter is a two-time second team All-CAC pick who earned rookie-of-the-year honors in 2006.  Ewing led St. Mary's in kills (289), kills per set (2.47), while being second in total blocks (88) with 20 solos and 68 assists, points (343), and points per set (2.93).  This season, she was named to the All-Tournament Team at the Haverford Invitational and earned CAC Player of the Week honors on November 4.  Ewing notched 14 double-figure kill matches as she was named the St. Mary's September Athlete-of-the-Month.  She registered season-highs of 17 kills and 9.0 total blocks in a 3-2 loss to Virginia Wesleyan College on October 25.  Ewing played in all 33 matches with 32 matches and finished the season ranked 32nd in hitting percentage in Division III.

Tursell is no stranger to the all-conference second team as this year's selection marks her fourth straight appearance.  The 5-10 middle blocker was named the 2005 CAC Rookie-of-the-Year.  She currently ranks fourth in the CAC in hitting percentage (.311) and fifth in service aces per set (0.57).  Tursell paced the team with 115 total blocks on 38 solos and 77 assists, while serving up a team-high 68 aces.  She also led the Seahawks with 368.5 points and 3.07 points per set.  Tursell tallied season-highs of 12 kills twice and 8.0 total blocks two times as well.  She recorded six aces in a sweep of Lycoming College and posted six double-digit kill matches.

Kodan, who earned first team honors a year ago, finished second for the Seahawks in kills (238) and kills per set (2.22) for the second consecutive season.  She was third in points (292.5) and points per set (2.73).  The 5-11 outside hitter racked up six double-doubles on kills and digs.  Kodan notched a season-high 16 kills and a dozen digs in a four-set win over Gallaudet University on October 1.  She picked up a career-high 18 digs in a 3-2 triumph over Clarkson University on October 4.  Kodan also had 16 double-digit dig matches along with seven double-figure kill matches.  She played in 33 matches with 28 starts.

St. Mary's finished this year's campaign as the CAC Runner-Up for the second consecutive season after earning the program's first-ever runner-up trophy in 2007.  The Seahawks posted a 27-7 overall record and a 7-1 mark in league action, drawing a first-round bye as the second seed and eliminating third-seed Stevenson University in the semifinals to face top-seed Salisbury University in the CAC title for the second year in a row.