Dec. 6, 2006

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Senior middle blocker Olivia Waldowski was named to the 2006 American Volleyball Coaches Association All-West Region Team it was announced Tuesday. This marked the second career honor for Irvine, Calif. native who helped the UC Santa Barbara women's volleyball team to a 19-12 record this season and its 26th consecutive NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Tournament appearance.

Waldowski, who was also named to the All-Big West Conference First Team, was one of two league members to earn a spot on the 12-player ACVA squad, which also includes student-athletes from the Western Athletic and Mountain West Conferences. In 2004, Waldowski earned honorable mention acclaim and with this year's honor she now becomes a candidate for All-America honors which will be announced next week.

"Olivia is so deserving of this award. Every match this season she came to play and posted outstanding numbers. Her hitting percentage was the highest in the conference at .394 and that was with a young setter," said Gaucho head coach Kathy Gregory.

As mentioned by Gregory, the 6'3" middle blocker led the conference with a .394 clip, which ranks fourteenth among all Division I players. Her clip is the highest single season hitting percentage in Gaucho history and her .363 four-year career hitting percentage is a school record.

In addition to leading the conference in hitting percentage, Waldowski also posted 400 kills on the season and averaged 3.48 kills per game, ranking seventh in the Big West. She had 25 double-digit kill performances on the season and hit over .300 on 27 occasions, including six matches with a clip surpassing .500.

The four-time all-conference pick, received Big West Player of the Week honors as well as Golden1/ucsbgauchos.com Student-Athlete of the Week honors on October 10. She also received all-tournament honors at the USD Invitational as well as the USF Powerade/Asics Classic.

The senior closed out her career at UCSB ranked third all-time in the Gaucho record books for block assists (371), fourth for total blocks (421) and tied fourth for service aces (137).

UCSB concluded the 2006 season with a 19-12 overall record and an 8-6 mark in the Big West, giving the Gauchos a third place finish in the conference. Santa Barbara also remained one of only three programs in the nation to advance to all 26 NCAA Championships dating back to the tournament's inception in 1981. The Gauchos fell in a 3-2 heartbreaker against BYU in the first round last Thursday.