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News Release

Ashley Oscars named America East Volleyball Rookie of the Year

11/17/2006

Ashley Oscars becomes the second Retriever in as many years to win America East Rookie of the Year.

Kira Giles was named to the All-Conference Second Team and All-Rookie Team.

Jen Wylie was named to the America East All-Conference Second Team.

Sarah Ball earned America East All-Conference First Team honors.

ALBANY, N.Y.—UMBC freshman outside hitter Ashley Oscars was named the America East Conference Volleyball Rookie of the Year for 2006, the conference announced tonight. Oscars was also named to the All-Conference First Team as well as the All-Rookie Team.  Sophomore outside hitter Sarah Ball joins Oscars on the first team, while senior libero Jennifer Wylie and freshman setter Kira Giles garnered second team honors.  Giles was also named to the All-Rookie Team.  Award voting was conducted by conference coaches and was announced at the annual league awards banquet held in Albany, the site of the 2006 America East Tournament. 

Oscars was recognized as the America East Conference Rookie of the Week seven times during the season, tying the record set by Ball in 2005.  She led UMBC with 360 kills during the regular season, for an average of 4.04 kills per game, which ranks her fourth on the conference charts, and also tallied a team-leading 399 points for 4.48 points per game, which ranks sixth on the conference charts.  Oscars tallied double-digit kills in all but four matches during the season, recording a season-high of 25 against Albany on Oct. 1. 

Wylie led the Retrievers with 534 digs, which is just three digs shy of the single-season record, with at least one match left to play.  Wylie also leads the conference with 5.13 digs per game, was nationally ranked in digs per game for the first three weeks of the season, and was recently named to the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District II University Division Second Team. 

Giles was a two-time recipient of the America East Conference Setter of the Week honor and also earned Rookie of the Week once.  She led the Retrievers with 755 assists, good for ninth on the all-time chart, and averaged 10.34 assists per game, which ranks third on the conference chart.

Senior Blair Buchanan from Albany was named Setter of the Year and Player of the Year for the second year in a row, while Albany head coach Kelly Sheffield earned the Coach of the Year accolade.

The third-seeded Retrievers, who earned a berth in the America East Championships for the first time since joining the conference in 2003 with a 15-14 overall record and 7-5 league mark, will take on No. 2 Binghamton Saturday at 5:30 p.m. in the semifinals. The winner of the game advances to face the winner of No.1 Albany vs. No. 4 Stony Brook.