Blasco named Orange Empire Conference MVP

Huntington Beach, Calif - The 2011 all-Orange Empire Conference women's volleyball team was released recently with Golden West's Bill Lawler being named as conference coach of the year and Rustler setter Klaire Blasco earning the conference's Most Valuable Player award.

Blasco led the conference with 566 assists, an average of 11.1 assists per set, as she guided her team to a perfect 14-0 record in conference play.  She also added 26 service aces in 51 sets.

Joining Blasco on the first-team all-conference were three Golden West teammates in middle hitter Bethanee Boggs, libero Kat Castillo, and outside hitter Ashley Botana.  The only repeating first-team all-conference selection was Cypress College middle blocker Kelsey Mersey while Cypress outside hitter Stephanie Casillas earned first-team honors this season after making the second-team all-conference list last year as a freshman.  

Other first-team selections included Fullerton freshman hitter Sigourney Rockmore and freshman middle blocker Chanel Gardner, Irvine Valley sophomore libero Sarah Mendoza along with Lasers freshman middle blocker Emily Mount and outside hitter Allie Cook.  Orange Coast had three freshmen players selected in outside hitter Karlee Riggs, setter Allison Lumsden, and middle blocker Morgan Link while Riverside sophomore outside hitter Breanna Mayes also made the list.

Earning second-team all-conference recognition were libero Holly Webster of Cypress, setter Samantha Adams of Fullerton, and outside hitters Alicia Utke and Alyssa Hubbard of Golden West.  Irvine Valley middle hitter Hannah Unruh and setter Sofia Furlong made the second-team along with Orange Coast hitters Isabel Emrich and Dana Nicholson and libero Andi Frisina.  Riverside sophomore outside hitters Rosetta Becerra and Robyn Miller are on this list along with Saddleback libero Michell Lisowski and setter Ally Horner and Santa Ana hitter Melissa Arroyo.