The Missouri State volleyball team landed five players on all-Missouri Valley Conference teams, the MVC announced Wednesday. Seniors Katelyn Panzau and Sara Thomas earned first-team accolades, Jamie Adams and Sara Staubach were voted to the second team and Cara Hackmann was honored with a spot on the all-freshmen team.
A setter from Belleville, Ill., Panzau is a repeat selection to the first team, and is averaging 12.15 assists, 1.26 kills, 2.60 digs and 0.75 blocks per game in 2007. She ranks fourth in Missouri State history with 2,741 assists, and holds the record for a two-year player by more than 700. She ranks 70th nationally in assists per game and runs an MSU offense that sits 42nd in kills and 74th in hitting percentage among 325 Division I schools.
Thomas, a right side hitter from Swansea, Ill., has started every match this season and owns several conference superlatives, including being the only player in the MVC averaging at least three kills (3.22), three digs (3.51) and one block (1.22) per game, and the only player to record a kill-block-dig triple-double this year. She is a two-time MVC Player of the Week and a two-time MVC Defensive Player of the Week this season as well.
A second team choice for the second year in a row, Adams leads the Bears with 423 kills and a 3.92 per game average. Her kills per game average currently ranks as the eighth best in Missouri State history, and her 423 kills rank 14th all-time for a single season. The Liberty, Mo., native was also chosen to the MVC Scholar-Athlete first team, and has led the Bears in kills 13 times with 26 double-figure matches.
Staubach, a sophomore outside hitter from Cincinnati, Ohio, is second on the team with 3.39 kills per game and third with 339 total kills. She has accumulated the top two offensive performances for MSU this season with 23 kills at Creighton (10/13) and 21 at Illinois State (9/22), and has finished with 10 or more kills 18 times.
Hackmann makes the six-member all-freshmen after seeing time in all 31 MSU matches with 27 starts. She is third on the team in total digs (361) and per game average (3.34) and also contributes 1.73 kills per game on .214 hitting, 0.80 assists per game and 0.79 blocks. She has three kill-dig double-doubles this season, with season-highs of 12 kills and 23 digs.
