Nov. 18, 2004

PITTSBURGH - Three Dayton players won a total of five awards at the A-10 Volleyball postseason awards dinner on Thursday night headlined by senior Christy Utnage winning A-10 Player of the Year honors.

Utnage was also named as an All-Conference and Academic All-Conference selection by the Conference. She was joined on the All-Conference Team by sophomore Faye Barhorst while freshman Robynne Green was named to the All-Rookie Team.

Utnage (Indianapolis, IN) is the fourth Flyer in the last 10 seasons to be named A-10 Player of the Year joining the group of Zhaohui Ma (1996), Carla Muntz (1998) and last year's winner Erin Treadway.

The senior outside hitter is one of just five players in school history to record both 1,000 digs and 1,000 kills in a career. Utnage enters the weekend with 1,138 digs and 1,049 kills, which ranks fifth and 10th respectively in the UD record book. She has also made her mark in the Flyer single-season record book as her 1,231 attack attempts are the fifth most ever and her 430 kills rank 11th. She ranks second in the conference in points scored (5.09 ppg), third in kills (4.43 kpg) and sixth in service aces (0.31 sapg).

An early/middle childhood education major, Utnage has a 3.473 GPA and was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District IV Third Team last Thursday. She is the eighth Flyer volleyball player to garner Academic All-Conference honors from the Atlantic 10.

Barhorst (Fort Loramie, OH) earned All-Conference honors this season after being named A-10 Rookie of the Year in 2003. She leads the Conference in blocks (1.48 bpg), hitting percentage (.385) and points scored (5.55 ppg) while ranking second in kills (4.52 kpg). Barhorst is one of only two players in the A-10 to record 30 kills in a match this season and set the NCAA match record for hitting percentage with an .800 performance at La Salle on Oct. 9. She has also worked her way into the UD single season record book in hitting percentage (2nd), solo blocks (4th) and kills (10th).

Green (Palatine, IL) is the fourth player in as many seasons to be named to the A-10 All-Rookie Team. She ranks second on the team in blocks (0.85 bpg) and service aces (0.29 sapg) as well as third in kills (1.85 kpg), hitting percentage (.202) and points scored (2.63 ppg). Green tallied 10 kills or more in four of her last seven matches and at least 4.0 blocks nine times this year.

UD (21-7) will begin defense of its 2003 Atlantic 10 Tournament Title as this year's top seed on Friday at 5:30 p.m. The Flyers will take on host Duquesne at the A.J. Palumbo Center in the first semifinal. The winner will advance to Saturday's Championship Match at 7:30 p.m. against either Xavier or Temple. Gametracker will be available for the entire Championship.