Senior Lucy Charuk Named First Team All-Conference
Selection
HOUSTON – Four University
of Houston volleyball players earned All-Conference awards the league office
announced on Wednesday. The four honorees are the most for a Cougar squad since
2005.
Senior middle blocker Lucy Charuk
earned First Team All-C-USA honors, while juniors Katie Norris and Chandace
Tryon are Second Team selections. Freshman setter Caitlin Ogletree also took home
postseason honors with her selection to the All-Freshman Team.
“I hope these awards help
the team recognize what an incredibly successful year this has been,” head coach
Molly Alvey said. “Dropping matches at the end of the season or not reaching the
exact expectations you have for yourself, as far as wins and losses, can cloud
perspective on all the great accomplishments we have made. This season has been
the best this program has performed in a long time. Jumping into the top 30,
beating a top 25 team and competing on a national level is pretty impressive. I
hope these accolades are a very clear recognition of what an unbelievable season
this was for UH volleyball.”
Charuk, a three-time First Team
selection, leads the Cougars with 365 kills and a .390 hitting percentage. She
also has a team-high 159 blocks, averaging 1.38 perset. The Tswwassen, British
Columbia, native ranks 15
th in the NCAA in hitting percentage and
17
th in blocks per set. She will leave Houston as the school career
leader in hitting percentage second in blocks and block assists, sixth in solo
blocks and eighth blocks per set.
Charuk recorded double-digit kills
in 22 matches this season and had at least five blocks in 19 matches.
Norris earns her first C-USA
postseason award after transferring to Houston from Ole Miss. The Humble, Texas,
native is tied for first with 29 service aces, is second on the team in kills
(337) and fourth in digs (153). She also has 65 blocks. Norris recorded her
first career double-double against UTEP on Oct. 14 with 14 kills and 11 digs.
She also had a career-high 25 kills against Marshall on Nov. 5. She recorded
double-digit kills in 17 matches this season.
Norris took home C-USA Offensive
Player of the Week honors on Sept. 26 and was named to the Flo Hyman Collegiate
Cup All-Tournament Team.
Tryon was named to the Second Team
after also earning a spot on the Preseason All-Conference squad. She is fourth
on the team in kills (253) and her .312hitting percentage is the second best on
the team. The Corpus Christi, Texas, native ranks eighth in C-USA in hitting
percentage and had at least five blocks in eight matches this season.
Tryon tied a career-high with 15
kills against SMU and was named to the University of Kentucky Invitational
All-Tournament Team.
With Ogletree’s selection to the
All-Freshman team, Houston has had a member of its squad on the team in four of
the last five seasons. The Montgomery, Texas, native leads the team with 1,154
assists and 29 service aces. She also has 226 digs and 39 blocks. Ogletree ranks
fifth in C-USA in assists and seventh in service aces.
Ogletree is a four-time C-USA
Setter of the Week and was named to the Flo Hyman Collegiate Cup All-Tournament
Team.
“Having Caitlin, Katie and
Chandace return next year will be extremely valuable for the program,” Alvey
said. “This season is as perfect as you can get in regards to experience for
these three players. We felt the success of winning big, the pressure of keeping
a winning record and the challenge of pushing through when the outcome is not as
you expected it to be.
“Those are all experiences
that make players better if they chose to continue to make winning habits out of
them. I know these three players, along with the others on this team will do
just that. Having these three back will be a big contributing factor to another
successful season next year.”
The Cougars are 18-11 this season
and 11-8 in league play. UH peaked at No. 38 this season in the RPI rankings,
the highest ranking in the program’s history since also reaching a No. 38
ranking in 1999.
Earlier this week, junior middle
blocker Stephanie Nwachukwu was named to the C-USA All-Academic volleyball team.
The Houston, native was named to the team for the first time in her career after
maintaining a 3.89 GPA in biochemistry.