Valeria Tipiana leads Canes on, off the court

Oct. 24, 2002

Sophomore Valeria Tipiana, a rightside hitter for the volleyball team, was selected the October 2002 Academic All-Star, after leading the Canes both on and off the court.

Undeclared in the College of Arts and Sciences, Tipiana made the Athletic Director’s Honor Roll and was named a UM Book Buster her freshman year. She had an excellent start to both her academic and athletic career at the University of Miami.

As a freshman, she played in 84 games and 24 matches, including 22 starts. She averaged 2.37 kills, 2.57 digs and 0.84 blocks per game. She finished second on the team in digs (208) and third on the team in blocks (68), assists (68), kills (192) and total attacks (419). She posted 25 service aces and tallied a career-high 17 kills in the 3-2 win over North Texas (Oct. 21, 2001).She had a season-high 17 digs in the match against Coastal Carolina (Sept. 01, 2001) and recorded a career-best 6 blocks in the match versus Florida Atlantic (Nov. 6, 2001).

So far this season, she has played in 70 games and 20 matches, including 19 starts. Her total attacks (560) are within the team’s top three, and she holds the highest attack percentage (3.66%). She is third on the team with 40 assists, posting a .57% of assists per game. She has the third highest total blocks (54) with .77 blocks per game. She holds the second highest kills (270) with 3.86 kills per game. She’s posted 25 serve aces already, with a .29 serve aces per game average. She holds the third highest digs per game average (2.63) with a total of 184 digs. She leads the team in receipts (20) with a .29 receipts per game average.

Before coming to Miami, she was a member of the State All-Star Team in 2000 which placed second in the Peruvian National Competition. She was named the best server in Peru during the competition and was a member of the Peruvian National Team in 2000, which placed third in the XII South American Championships. Her team also qualified for World Cup Competition. She was named a starter for the 2000 Older Age Group Peruvian National Team, and her team finished fourth in the South American Championships. She served as a member of the 1999 Peruvian National Team and was named a starter during the 1999 South American Competitions. Her team also competed in the Pre-World Championships.