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News Release

Force 3 UMBC Athlete of the Week: Jennifer Wylie

10/4/2006

Jennifer Wylie has over 300 digs this season.

Name: Jennifer Wylie

Sport/Position: Volleyball/Outside Hitter/Libero

Hometown/High School/Previous School: Timonium, Md./Dulaney HS/NYU

Last Week: 36 digs, 4.5 digs/game, 4 service aces, 0.50 service aces/game.

Retrievers Last Week: 1-1—Defeated Hartford 3-0 (31-29, 30-19, 30-27) on 9/29; Lost to Albany 2-3 (20-30, 30-28, 30-28, 23-30, 13-15).

Season Record: 7-9.

After the first week of matches this season, Jennifer Wylie was ranked eighth in the nation in digs per game (dpg), averaging 6.77 per game.  Since then, she has dropped to 28^th in the rankings released on September 24, with 5.55 dpg, but is on pace to become the 12^th member of the 400-Dig Club, with a projected finish in the top three.  The senior captain continued her trend last week averaging 4.50 dpg, becoming this weeks Force 3 UMBC Athlete of the Week.

Wylie, a native of Timonium, Md., is currently averaging 5.40 dpg for a total of 308 digs and with 13 matches, with a minimum of three games each, left is projected to become a member of the 400-Dig Club on Sunday, Oct. 22 in the match against Albany.  By the end of the season, she is projected to have amassed around 518 total digs if she continues to average 5.40 dpg, ranking her in second place on UMBC’s single-season digs chart behind Tracey Cullins with 537 from 1990.

This past week, Wylie recorded 11 digs and three service aces in the win against Hartford, and 25 digs and one service ace in the loss at Albany.  She leads the America East in digs per game and ranks eighth in service aces at 0.40 per game for a total of 23. 

Wylie, a senior transfer from New York University, is no stranger to success, as she helped lead NYU to back-to-back D-III national semifinal appearances in 2003 and 2004, and led her Dulaney High School team to the Maryland state title in 2000, while playing under current UMBC head coach Ian Blanchard.

“I’ve known Jenn since she was in eighth grade,” said Blanchard.  “She played for me in high school for three years and on the club level for four years.  I knew then [in high school] that she was one of the most disciplined, hardworking athletes I had ever worked with.  I have never worked with anyone more devoted and hardworking than Jenn.”

Wylie said that she came to UMBC because she was, “unhappy in New York.  It was a last minute decision.  I was looking at other schools and I found out Ian was the coach at UMBC.  It was close to home and appealing, especially because I knew Ian already.”

Blanchard, who has only had Wylie for two seasons, knows she will be difficult to replace.  “She has an amazing work ethic,” Blanchard said.  “She is extraordinarily independent and demonstrates leadership through action.  She’s a lot like Pete Sampras; she doesn’t show a lot of emotion on the court, but she is always in control.”

Wylie was certainly in control on Tuesday night with her third 30-plus digs match of the season as UMBC defeated St. Francis (Pa.), 3-1.  The Retrievers and Wylie will play their first home match since September 13 when they host Maine on Friday at 4 p.m. in UMBC RAC Arena.