Three Volleyball Badgers Named All-Big Ten
November 28, 2006 | Volleyball
Three members of the University of Wisconsin volleyball team have been named to the 14-member 2006 All-Big Ten Conference team by a vote of league coaches, the conference office announced today. Juniors Taylor Reineke and Jackie Simpson as well as freshman Brittney Dolgner were named to the honor team. In addition, Pete Waite was selected the 2006 Big Ten Coach of the Year by his peers and Dolgner was named to the Big Ten All-Freshman team.
Reineke, a 6-2 middle blocker, earned her second consecutive All-Big Ten honor. For the second year in a row, she led the league in blocks. In conference matches, Reineke averaged a league-best 1.72 blocks per game and leads in all matches with 1.62 blocks per game. The Naperville, Ill., native also leads the Badgers in hitting percentage at .300. Reineke ranks fourth on the team with 2.49 kills per game this season, having recorded a career-best 14 kills in three matches this season.
Simpson, a 6-0 setter, picks up her first All-Big Ten honor. She was named the AVCA National Player of the Week and the Big Ten Player of the Week after setting the Badgers to wins over then-No. 2 Penn State and then-No. 24 Ohio State on Oct. 27 and Oct. 29, respectively. The Downers Grove, Ill., native ranks sixth in the Big Ten with 12.86 assists per game and is also tied for third on the UW team with 0.89 blocks per game. Simpson ranks fourth among Badgers with 1.96 digs per game, having recorded a career-high 14 digs against Minnesota.
Dolgner, a 6-0 outside hitter, is the first UW freshman to earn first-team All-Big Ten honors. The Waupun, Wis., native leads the Badgers and ranks 10th in the conference with 4.14 kills per game. She had a career-best 30 kills against Northwestern and has recorded double-digit kills in a team-best 21 matches. Dolgner ranks second on the UW team with 2.51 digs per game, having recorded double-figure digs in nine matches. She was also named to the six-member Big Ten All-Freshman team, continuing the Badgers' streak as the only conference squad that has had a freshman honoree in each of the eight years since the awards inception in 1999.
Waite earns his third Big Ten Coach of the Year honor, leading the Badgers to third place in the conference standings. The UW's 16 league wins is the most for Wisconsin since 2001, when the Badgers won the Big Ten title at 19-1. Waite, who won his 200th match at Wisconsin on Nov. 25 at Purdue, was also named the Big Ten Coach of the Year in 2000 and 2001.
