| Victoria Prior | Kendra Rowland |
FRISCO ? Junior middle hitter Victoria Prior and freshman outside hitter Kendra Rowland earned All-Southland Conference honors, the leagueoffice announced on Thursday.
Prior, a preseason first-team All-SLC selection, lived up to the billing, as she was one of 12 players named to the league’s top team. She became the 12th Roadrunner in school history to be selected to the conference’s first team and it marks the fifth year in a row that a UTSA student-athlete has represented the program on the SLC’s top squad.
The Galveston native has been a force in her third season. She leads the team with an SLC-best 440 kills (3.9 pg/second SLC), a .304 hitting percentage (fifth SLC) and 108 total blocks (40 solo/68 assists). Her 40 solo blocks rank in a fifth-place tie on UTSA’s single-season chart and her 440 winners stand in a 10th-place tie. Prior was named to three consecutive all-tournament teams earlier this year at the Lady Panther Invitational (68 kills, .400 pct, 15 blocks), UTSA Classic (46 kills, .389 pct, 8 blocks) and North Florida Labor Day Classic (36 kills, .275 pct, 4 blocks). She had a season-high 25 winners against Texas-Pan American on Sept. 15, which was one short of her career high, and has been in double figures 25 times this year, including four 20-plus performances.
Meanwhile, Rowland was a second-team honoree. The Antioch, Calif., native has shown she is no ordinary first-year player this season. She leads the squad with 28 service aces, ranks second with 427 kills (3.8 pg/fourth SLC) and 371 digs (3.3 pg) and stands third with 38 total blocks (7 solo/31 assists). Rowland has recorded at least 10 winners in 25 contests and also has 17 double-doubles this year. On Sept. 6 against Houston, she slammed home a career-high 29 kills, which was the most by a Roadrunner since Meagan Daniel had 29 on Nov. 11, 2005 (at Northwestern State). Rowland matched that performance on Oct. 24 against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. She also collected a career-high 30 digs on Nov. 3 against Sam Houston State, the most by a Roadrunner this season. Rowland opened her career by being named to back-to-back all-tournament teams at the Bronco Invitational (28 kills, 2 aces, 13 digs) and North Florida Labor Day Classic (34 kills, 3 aces, 36 digs, 3 blocks).
The seventh-seeded Roadrunners (13-20) are back in action on Friday nightwhen they play No. 2 Stephen F. Austin (25-7) in the quarterfinals of theSLC Tournament. First serve is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at theConvocation Center. For more information on this year's event, click here.
2007 All-Southland Conference
First Team
Molli Abel, Lamar
Kaci Brewer, Lamar
Torie Dacus, Texas-Arlington
JJ Jones, Stephen F. Austin
Adrianne Meengs, Lamar
Ellen Murray, Texas-Arlington
Victoria Prior, UTSA
Lauren Railey, Stephen F. Austin
Traci Rohde, Stephen F. Austin
Robyn Smith, Central Arkansas
Amy Weigle, Texas State
Cynthia Yarotsky, Sam Houston State
Second Team
Lawrencia Brown, Texas State
Jami Hill, Stephen F. Austin
Emily Nedderman, Texas-Arlington
Kendra Rowland, UTSA
Chloe Smith, Central Arkansas
Jessica Strama, McNeese State
Honorable Mention
Sarah Cartie, McNeese State
Melinda Cave, Texas State
Christie Feliz, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
Andrea Hamilton, Lamar
Laura North, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
Emily Jones, Texas State
Player of the Year: Molli Abel, Lamar
Newcomer of the Year: Shalayne Blythe, Lamar
Freshman of the Year: Chloe Smith, Central Arkansas
Setter of the Year: Adrianne Meengs, Lamar
Libero of the Year: Jami Hill, Stephen F. Austin
Katrinka Jo Crawford Coach of the Year: Justin Gibert, Lamar