UM Places Three on Preseason All-ACC Volleyball Team

Aug. 18, 2009

Greensboro, N.C. – University of Miami volleyball players Genny Mayhew, Lane Carico and Cassie Loessberg have been selected to this year’s Preseason All-ACC Volleyball Team announced Tuesday afternoon by Commissioner John D. Swofford from the ACC office in Greensboro, N.C. The preseason volleyball team is voted on by the 12 head coaches in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Duke takes in 116 of a possible 121 points, including seven of 12 first place votes. Coaches’ votes for the predicted order of finish were tallied with 11 points being applied to a first-place vote, 10 points for a second-place vote, etc. Coaches were not permitted to predict their own team’s order of finish.

Just 17 points separate the top-four teams as Florida State, Miami, and North Carolina also take in first-place votes. Florida State follows Duke in second place with 104 points and three first-place votes, while Miami is tabbed to finish in third with 101 points and one first-place vote. North Carolina lands in fourth with 99 points and one first-place vote.

The Hurricanes ended last year with the best ACC record in school history, completing a 14-6 ACC mark, and collecting the second-best Division I record in school history at 26-6 overall.

Clemson is tabbed fifth with 75 points, and is followed by Virginia Tech (71), Virginia (62), Georgia Tech (49), Wake Forest (47), Maryland (33), NC State (21), and Boston College (14).

In the Preseason All-ACC selections, a total of six players who earned All-America status from the American Volleyball Coaches Association last season are among the 18 players selected to the Preseason All-ACC volleyball team. Clemson’s Kelsey Murphy and Lia Proctor, Duke’s Rachael Moss, Miami’s Lane Carico, North Carolina’s Heather Brooks, and Virginia Tech’s Felicia Willoughby headline the 2009 Preseason All-ACC team.

Nine of 12 teams are represented on the 18-player squad, including a four-way tie for the lead as Clemson, Duke, Florida State, and Miami have three players named to the team apiece. Defending ACC co-champion North Carolina has two on the list, while Georgia Tech, Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Wake Forest each make an appearance with one student-athlete.

Genny Mayhew (Clovis, Calif.) makes her second consecutive appearance on the Preseason All-ACC Team after picking up Second Team All-ACC honors last season. The senior outside hitter finished eighth in the league last year in kills while placing second on the Hurricanes squad with 356 to her credit. She ended the year toting a .212 clip (356-123-1099) and amassing a team fourth-best 280 digs and a team fifth-best mark in blocks (46). Mayhew is sixth all-time at UM for single-season kills, collecting 428 during the 2007 season.

Lane Carico (Manhattan Beach, Calif.), the reigning ACC and AVCA East region Freshman of the Year, makes her debut to the Preseason team after also being named to both the ACC Freshman and Second Team a year ago. Carico ended her rookie season sixth in the league in kills and topping Miami with 369, and a hitting percentage of .217 for the season. Her 369 kills in 2008 placed her 10th all-time at UM for kills in a single season. She also collected a team second-best 416 digs while leading the `Canes in service aces with 35 (sixth-best in the ACC).

The final representative on the preseason team for UM is senior libero Cassie Loessberg (Sacramento, Calif.), picking up her first All-ACC Preseason accolade. Last year, Loessberg set a new school-record for single-season digs at UM, besting her own previous record from the 2007 campaign (552), setting the new school mark at 554. She finished the season third in the ACC for digs and moved up to second place all-time at UM in career digs with a three-year total of 1,424. She enters the 2009 season needing just 198 digs to surpass Jamie Grass (2001-04) for first place.

The 2009 season officially gets underway Aug. 28 when UM hosts the Hurricane Invitational (Aug. 28-29) at the Knight Sports Complex. Others taking part in the event include in-state opponents Florida Gulf Coast and USF, as well as Prairie View A&M out of the state of Texas.

For more information on the Preseason All-ACC Volleyball team and all other news surrounding the Atlantic Coast Conference, please visit www.hurricanesports.com.

2009 Preseason All-ACC Team
Kelsey Murphy, Sr., S – Clemson
Lia Proctor, Sr., OH – Clemson
Didem Ege, Sr., DS – Clemson
Rachael Moss, Sr., OH – Duke
Becci Burling, Jr., MB – Duke
Kellie Catanach, So., S – Duke
Mira Djuric, Sr., OH – Florida State
Brianna Barry, Sr., MB – Florida State
Jordana Price, Sr., MB – Florida State
Chrissy DeMichelis, Sr., OH – Georgia Tech
Genny Mayhew, Sr., OH – Miami
Lane Carico, So., OH – Miami
Cassie Loessberg, Sr., DS – Miami
Ingrid Hanson-Tuntland, Sr., MB – North Carolina
Heather Brooks, Sr., MB – North Carolina
Simone Asque, So., OH – Virginia
Felicia Willoughby, Jr., MB – Virginia Tech
Kadija Fornah, So., OH – Wake Forest