Dec. 18, 2002

Santa Barbara, Calif. - The American Volleyball Coaches' Association announced its 2002 All-Americans on Wednesday, bestowing such honors on UC Santa Barbara's Danielle Bauer and Brooke Niles.

The two seniors are the ninth and 10th players in school history to earn All-American recognition. The only other time UCSB has featured two All-Americans in the same season was 1997, when first team acclaim went to Katie Crawford while Roberta Gehlke garnered a spot on the second team.

Bauer is just the fourth Santa Barbara player to earn First Team All-American recognition in the 19 years the AVCA has been sponsoring such awards, and the first since Gehlke in 1999. The middle blocker from Santa Ana, Calif., was also named the Big West Conference Player of the Year in 2002 after ranking third in the league with 4.67 kills per game, and finished her career with 1,552 career put-aways, second-best in program history. Her hitting percentage of .328 and blocks per game average of 1.16 also placed her amongst the Big West's top-10. In addition, Bauer earned Verizon Academic All-District acclaim and a spot on the Big West's All-Academic Team for her diligence in the classroom.

For the first ever the AVCA announced a 12-player group of Third Team All-Americans, which included Niles. One of the most versatile players in UCSB history, the Woodland Hills, Calif., nat\ive joined the nation's elite setters in 2002 and ranked as high as second in the Division I ranks in assists. She paced the Big West with 13.95 assists per game, and also ranked amongst the leagues top-five in digs per game at 3.55 en route to first team all-league accolades. Her 1,323 career digs are the fifth-most all-time at Santa Barbara. Niles joined Bauer on the Big West All-Academic squad.

The two Gauchos will receive their awards at the AVCA All-America/Player of the Year banquet this Friday, Dec. 20 in New Orleans. As one of 12 first-team honorees, Bauer is now a candidate for National Player of the Year. At the same event a National Coach of the Year will be crowned; Gaucho head coach Kathy Gregory is in the running for that award after earning West Region Coach of the Year honors last week. This season Gregory guided UCSB to a 30-3 record and a berth in the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 for the fifth time in the past six years. 2002 also saw Santa Barbara win its first-ever outright Big West title with a perfect 18-0 league record and open the year with a school-record 23 match winning streak.