Dec. 4, 2012
UCF Athletics Social Media Directory
By Andrew Jennette
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - Coming off its best winning percentage in Conference USA play, the postseason accolades continue to roll in for the UCF volleyball team as the AVCA (American Volleyball Coaches Association) announced Tuesday that DeLaina Sarden was named to its Midwest All-Region team. Sarden becomes UCF's ninth all-time recipient of this award.
"We're so pleased to have DeLaina honored with an AVCA Regional Award after such a great season," head coach Todd Dagenais said. "She was such an important part of both our offense and our defense and truly earned this recognition."
"For our program to be honored for the second-consecutive year with an all-region award really shows the growth and development this program is making," Dagenais continued. "Now we will wait and see if DeLaina can be honored on the national level and become an All-American"
Sarden joins teammate Angelica Crump as just the second AVCA All-Region First Team award winner since the Knights joined Conference USA in 2005. Sarden put up strong two-way numbers in just her second year of action as the 6-foot-1 middle blocker smacked 269 kills with a team-best .352 hitting percentage. Sarden also shined defensively as she led the team with 127 blocks and 1.09 blocks per set. She was named to the All-C-USA First Team for her efforts.
With the all-region awards handed out, Sarden will wait until Dec. 14 to find out if she will be named an All-American. UCF has three All-America honors in its Division I history as former Knights Jenny Frank and Rachel Vukson as well as Crump have earned honorable mentions.