Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Former Valparaiso volleyball standout Brittany Malicoat (Elkhart, Ind./Memorial) closed out her stellar Crusader career ranked 11th in NCAA history in career digs, according to the organization’s 2009 Volleyball Records Book released this week.

Malicoat closed out her four-year Crusader career with 2,309 digs, over 400 more than anybody else in Valpo history and just outside the NCAA’s all-time top-10.  In addition, she finished her career with an average of 5.25 digs/set, also good for 11th in NCAA history.  Malicoat’s placements are even more impressive considering the switch to 25-point sets last season, while eight of the ten ahead of her in total digs and nine of the ten ahead of her in digs/set had the benefit of playing to 30 points through their entire career.

Elsewhere in the latest version of the records book, Valparaiso is officially recognized as the national statistical champion for the 2008 season in both kills/set (15.32/set) and assists/set (14.26), outpacing national champion Penn State in both categories.  In addition, head coach Carin Avery enters the 2009 campaign ranked 19th among active Division I head coaches with a .725 career winning percentage.