Horizon League Announces Annual Volleyball Awards

Nov. 17, 2004

INDIANAPOLIS - Karen Fruit of regular-season champion University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee was named the 2004 Horizon League Volleyball Player of the Year to highlight the League's annual postseason awards that were announced Wednesday (Nov. 17).

Other individual honors were awarded to Megan Knightly of Butler University as Defensive Player of the Year, Leanne Felsing of UW-Milwaukee as Newcomer of the Year and Kathy Litzau of UWM as Coach of the Year.

Fruit, a senior outside hitter, leads the Horizon League and ranks among the national leaders with 5.19 kills per game, including 5.49 in League matches, and has posted 20 or more kills 17 times in 26 outings.  She is the fifth UW-Milwaukee player to be named Player of the Year in the last six years.

Among Fruit's season highlights are a 31-kill, 18-dig performance at Wright State University and a 25-kill, 22-dig outing at Loyola University Chicago.  In her final regular-season match last week, she had 26 kills, 19 digs and  a school-record eight service aces.  In addition, Fruit already has broken her own school record with 488 kills this season and is one of only two players in UWM's Division I history to collect at least 1,000 kills, 1,000 digs and 100 aces in their careers.

Knightly, a junior libero, tops the Horizon League with 4.51 digs per game and helped Butler finish second in the regular-season standings.  She has recorded 10 or more digs in all 27 matches this season, including 20 or more eight times with a season-high of 30 at Wright State.  Her defense has helped the Bulldogs lead the League in opponent hitting percentage and ranks second in both blocks and digs.  Knightly becomes the first Butler player to be named Defensive Player of the Year in the award's three-year history.

Felsing, a freshman outside hitter, emerged as a second offensive option to Fruit in her rookie season at UW-Milwaukee, averaging 2.89 kills and 2.91 digs per game.  She posted 12 double-doubles, including a season-high 18 kills at the University of Illinois at Chicago and 26 kills at Butler.  Felsing is the fifth UWM player to be selected Newcomer of the Year in the last nine seasons.

Litzau earned her sixth Coach-of-the-Year award in 12 seasons at UW-Milwaukee, extending her own League record, as she led the Panthers (19-7, 13-1) to their sixth regular-season title in the last eight years.  She owns a career-record of 227-136 and has directed UWM to within one victory of its eighth consecutive 20-win season.  Litzau previously won the award in 1996, '99, 2000, '01 and '03.

Including Fruit, six seniors are repeated selections from last year's All-League Team --  Lauren Holbrook of Loyola, Areal Bienemy and Kali Carter of Butler, Jamie Bouyer of Cleveland State and Leslie Kuhn of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.  Holbrook and Bouyer are the 10th and 11th players to garner first-team All- League honors three times in their careers (2001-03).  Holbrook also was a second-team pick as a freshman in 2001.

The 2004 Horizon League Volleyball Championship will open this Thursday, Nov. 18, at the Beeghly Center on the campus of Youngstown State University featuring regular-season champion UW-Milwaukee as the No. 1 seed. The Panthers, who have won 11 straight matches, will receive a bye to the semifinals on Saturday, Nov. 20, along with No. 2 seed Butler (18-9, 12-2).

In the first match of the tournament, No. 6 seed University of Wisconsin-Green Bay (9-18, 6-8) will face No. 7 seed Wright State (4-25, 2-12) at 5 p.m. Eastern. No. 5 seed UIC (10-20, 6-8) will meet host and No. 8 seed Youngstown State (9-20, 1-13) at 7:30 p.m.  No. 3 seed Loyola University Chicago (19-8, 10-4) then will play the winner of the UW-Green Bay/Wright State match on Friday, Nov. 19, at 5 p.m., followed by No. 4 seed Cleveland State University (13-12, 6-8) against the winner of the UIC/Youngstown State contest.  The championship match will be held Sunday, Nov. 21, at 1 p.m. with the winner receiving the Horizon League's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.

2004 Horizon League Volleyball Award Winners

Player of the Year

Karen Fruit                                  UW-Milwaukee            Sr.           OH          Viola, Wis./Richland Center

Defensive Player of the Year

Megan Knightly                            Butler                           Jr.            L             Chicago, Ill./Mother McAuley

Newcomer of the Year

Leanne Felsing                            UW-Milwaukee            Fr.            OH          Elm Grove, Wis./Wisconsin Lutheran

Coach of the Year

Kathy Litzau                                UW-Milwaukee            12th season at UWM

All-League

Karen Fruit #                           UW-Milwaukee                Sr.           OH          Viola, Wis./Richland Center

Lauren Holbrook #%+             Loyola                             Sr.           S             Indianapolis, Ind./Cathedral

Areal Bienemy #                      Butler                               Sr.           MB          Violet, La./St. Bernard

Jamie Bouyer #%                    Cleveland State               Sr.           MH          Bedford Heights, Ohio/Chanel

Kali Carter #                            Butler                               Sr.           OH          Columbus, Ind./Columbus East

Melissa Lange                         UW-Milwaukee                Jr.            S             Abbotsford, Wis./Abbotsford

Nicole Amberg                         Loyola                             Sr.           OH          Tulsa, Okla./Bishop Kelly

Nickole Kennedy                     Cleveland State               Jr.            Opp.       Sunbury, Ohio/Big Walnut

Jill Smits                                   UW-Green Bay                Jr.            MB          Waupun, Wis./Waupun

Hilary Stromath                        Loyola                             Jr.            MB          Manhattan Beach, Calif./Mira Costa

Leslie Kuhn #                          UW-Green Bay                Sr.           S             Juneau, Wis./Dodgeland

Katie Kozak                             UIC                                   So.           S             Oak Forest, Ill./Mother McAuley

All-Newcomer

Leanne Felsing                        UW-Milwaukee                Fr.            OH          Elm Grove, Wis./Wisconsin Lutheran

Katarina Nedeljkovic                UIC                                   Fr.            RS          Kragujevac, Serbia & Montenegro/Universal

Jessica Fraley                         Youngstown State          Fr.            OH          LaGrange, Ohio/Keystone

Keily Zins                                Loyola                             Fr.            OH          Barrington, Ill./Lake Zurich

Michelle DeGeeter                   Butler                               Fr.            MB/OH    Warsaw, Ind./Warsaw

Jamie Gabrielson                     UW-Milwaukee                Fr.            S/OH       Menomonee Falls, Wis./Menomonee Falls

# 2003 All-League

% 2002 All-League

+ 2001 All-League (Second Team)