Volleyball Signees Earn All-America Honors
Wednesday, November 25, 2009 | Volleyball
Florida volleyball signees Chanel Brown (Tempe, Ariz.) and Taylor Unroe (Muncie, Ind.) each have been named to the fourth-annual Under Armour Girls High School All-America teams, the American Volleyball Coaches Association announced Tuesday from its offices in Lexington, Ky.
Unroe was named to the All-America first team, while Brown was named to the All-America second team. Both inked their National Letters of Intent with the Gators on Nov. 11.
Each of the 24 players on the First-Team will be invited to play in the Under Armour All-America Volleyball Match & Skills Competition. The event will be held at the St. Pete Times Forum, December 20 in Tampa, Fla., in conjunction with the 2009 AVCA Annual Convention.
Requirements for nomination were that the student-athlete be in her senior year of high school, that she be nominated by her high school coach, that her coach be a member of the AVCA and that her season statistics be entered into MaxPreps, a free service that aggregates and distributes data on high school sports.
Brown, who directed her high school team to the Arizona state championship as the event's Most Valuable Player, is a two-time American Volleyball Coaches Association National Player of the Week and a one-time Tachikara National Player of the Week this year. She was named to PrepVolleyball.com's list of Senior Aces, which recognizes the top-100 graduating players in the country. Brown was the Metro Region Player of the Year in 2009.
During her senior season, Brown averaged 7.1 kills per set and 6.2 digs per set as an outside hitter. As a junior, she was the Arizona Republic's Small School Player of the Year, after ranking third in the nation in kills per set with 7.50. Brown is a four-time all-state selection, becoming the first freshman in Arizona high school history to be named to the all-state team. She earned Highest Honorable Mention honors from PrepVolleyball.com in 2008. Brown is the starting setter for the Spiral Volleyball Club.
Unroe was a member of a four-time Indiana state championship team that went an undefeated 40-0 in her senior season. Her senior year, she averaged 2.9 digs per set and served 69 aces. She also averaged 3.0 kills per set. Unroe, who began playing volleyball at age four, was named a 2008 PrepVolleyball.com All-American. She was one of 26 players in the nation named to PrepVolleyball.com's Defensive Dandies first team, which recognizes outstanding defensive players across the country.
As a member of the club Munciana, Unroe directed her team to the AAU national title and the Junior Volleyball District Association Championship in back-to-back weeks, earning MVP honors at the JVDA event. During the 2009 season, Unroe once earned ESPN RISE Athlete of the Week honors.
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