Four Gators Named to 2011 All-SEC Volleyball Teams
Monday, November 28, 2011 | Volleyball
Florida seniors Kristy Jaeckel (Littleton, Colo.) and Kelly Murphy (Wilmington, Ill.) each were named to the 2011 All-Southeastern Conference First Team to highlight a quartet of Gators named to the 2011 All-SEC Teams, announced on Monday by the league offices in Birmingham, Ala.
Jaeckel and Murphy earned first team honors, while junior right-side hitter Tangerine Wiggs (Seattle, Wash.) was named Second Team All-SEC and redshirt freshman libero Taylor Unroe (Muncie, Ind.) was given a nod on the SEC All-Freshmen Team.
Jaeckel, the 2011 SEC Co-Scholar Athlete of the Year, leads the Gators in kills, points and aces on the season. The Colorado native has racked up 340 kills on the season (3.37/set – eighth in SEC) to go along with 420.5 points (4.16/set – fifth in SEC) and 43 aces (.43/set – 1st in SEC). She is also second on the team in digs (230, 2.28/set) and third in blocks (59, .58/set), including a team-high 16 block solos. Jaeckel, a CoSIDA First Team Academic All-District® selection and a three-time member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll, has a perfect 4.0 as a graduate student in Sport Management.
Jaeckel's name is all over the Florida record books, as she ranks in the top-10 all-time in kills, attacks and points. She was named the AVCA National Player of the Week and SEC Offensive Player of the Week for her stellar performances on the road against Auburn and Georgia. Jaeckel was also named to the All-Tournament Team at the Nike Big Four Volleyball Classic, the Active Ankle SEC/ACC Challenge and the Campus USA Credit Union Invitational, where she was named the Tournament MVP. Jaeckel was also a 2011 Preseason All-SEC selection and is just the ninth player in Gator history to reach 3,000 or more attacks.
Murphy, a 2011 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award finalist, leads Florida with 603 assists on the year. She ranks third in the SEC in service aces (36, .35/set) and sixth in hitting percentage (.324). The Illinois native is second on the team in service aces, kills (242, 2.37/set) and points (307.5, 3.01/set), and third in digs (223, 2.19/set). Murphy was named the AVCA National Player of the Week and SEC Offensive Player of the Week for her triple-double in a 3-set sweep of Mississippi State.
Murphy, who has started every match of her career, ranks in the top-10 all-time at Florida in kills, points, assists, service aces and hitting percentage. Murphy was also named to the All-Tournament Team at the Nike Big Four Volleyball Classic, the Active Ankle SEC/ACC Challenge and the Campus USA Credit Union Invitational, as well as a 2011 Preseason All-SEC selection. Murphy has 27 career triple-doubles and 72 career double-doubles.
Wiggs, a 2011 Second Team All-SEC selection, has played in every set of 2011, starting 22 matches. She ranks fourth in the SEC in hitting percentage, operating at a .344 clip. Wiggs is second on the team in total blocks (77) and third in both kills (229) and points (269.5). The Seattle native had one of her best matches of the season on the road against Stanford, notching a career-high 18 kills in the final of the 2011 Nike Big Four Volleyball Classic. Wiggs was lights out in Palo Alto, averaging 3.10 kills/set and a .456 hitting clip, while registering double-digit kills in both matches against Texas and Stanford.
Unroe, a 2011 SEC All-Freshmen Team honoree, has played in every set of 2011 and ranks sixth in the SEC in service aces (26, .25/set) and seventh in digs (368, 3.61/set). Unroe, who leads the Gators in digs, also ranks third on the team in aces and assists (75, .74/set). Her prowess on serve receive has aided the Gators to an NCAA-leading .312 hitting percentage. Unroe was named the SEC Freshman of the Week for her performances against Florida State and throughout the Campus USA Credit Union Invitational. She was also named to the Campus USA Credit Union Invitational and Active Ankle SEC/ACC Challenge All-Tournament Teams. Unroe's best match of the season was at LSU, where she tied her career high in digs with 22 (previously set in a 5-set match) and had a perfect serve receive percentage in a 4-set victory over the Tigers.
The first and second teams are nine-member teams voted on by the league coaches while the freshmen team has seven members named to it. No ties are broken. First team selections were led by Kentucky and Tennessee with three members each, followed by Florida with two.
The Gators are in the midst of their 21st consecutive 20-win season and begin action in the NCAA Tournament First Round on Friday when they face future SEC opponent Missouri at 6 p.m. ET in Cedar Falls, Iowa on the campus of No. 6 seed Northern Iowa.
The University of Florida is home to the 2011 NCAA Volleyball Regional. To order 2011 regular season and NCAA Regional tickets, log on to http://www.GatorZone.com/tickets.
For all of the latest information on Florida volleyball, please log on to www.GatorZone.com/Volleyball or, for up-to-the-minute updates, follow Florida volleyball on Twitter at @GatorZoneVB or www.twitter.com/GatorZoneVB and Coach Mary Wise on Twitter at @GatorMary or www.twitter.com/GatorMary. You can also find the Gators on Facebook.
2011 SEC Volleyball Awards
Player of the Year: Kelsey Robinson, Tennessee
Libero of the Year: Stephanie Klefot, Kentucky
Freshman of the Year: Mary Pollmiller, Tennessee
Co-Scholar-Athletes of the Year: Ann Armes, Kentucky; Kristy Jaeckel, Florida
Coach of the Year: Rob Patrick, Tennessee
First Team All-SEC
Jasmine Norton, Arkansas
Kristy Jaeckel, Florida
Kelly Murphy, Florida
Whitney Billings, Kentucky
Christine Hartmann, Kentucky
Stephanie Klefot, Kentucky
Leslie Cikra, Tennessee
DeeDee Harrison, Tennessee
Kelsey Robinson, Tennessee
Second Team All-SEC
Kelli Stipanovich, Arkansas
Tangerine Wiggs, Florida
Desiree Elliott, LSU
Madie Jones, LSU
Meghan Mannari, LSU
Ashley Frazier, Kentucky
Regina Thomas, Ole Miss
Caitlin Rance, Mississippi State
Tiffany Baker, Tennessee
Mary Pollmiller, Tennessee
All-Freshmen Team
Taylor Unroe, Florida
Lauren O'Connor, Kentucky
Helen Boyle, LSU
Malorie Pardo, LSU
Lainey Wyman, Mississippi State
Tiffany Baker, Tennessee
Mary Pollmiller, Tennessee
