Nov. 19, 2008 – Repeat first-team honors for seniors Allie Cherven and Melissa Keck headlined Truman’s six selections to the 2008 all-MIAA squads, released Wednesday by the conference office. Seniors Eli Medina and Whitney Boehler were second-team selections, while senior Dana Hanselmann and sophomore Ashley Petak received honorable mention status.
Cherven (St. Charles, Mo.) is a three-time first-team selection at the middle hitter position and leads the 2008 Bulldogs in total points and blocks. She is currently Truman’s all-time hitting percentage leader at .324 and has cracked the MIAA top-10 in blocking during just three seasons as a Bulldog.
Keck (Belleville, Ill.) joins Cherven for the second straight season on the MIAA first-team, and both will again be looking for AVCA All-American status after receiving the honor in 2007. Keck is hitting .332 on the season at the right-side hitter position and is a career .322 hitter, which is good for second all-time behind Cherven.
Medina (Kansas City, Mo.) and Boehler (Olathe, Kan.) return to the all-MIAA squads again after earning second team and honorable mention accolades respectively in 2007. Medina is one of three Truman hitters (Cherven, Keck) to have reached 1,000 kills for her career this season and is currently second all-time in career digs with 1,906. Boehler falls in line right behind Medina on the all-time digs list, currently sitting fourth with 1,669 digs for her career. She will look to pass Sarah Shearman for third place this weekend and needs just 46 digs to do so. Boehler will leave Truman as the program’s all-time digs per set leader, currently sporting a 4.42 mark.
Wrapping up Truman’s 2008 selections are a pair of first-time recipients. Hanselmann (Sleepy Hollow, Ill.) shifted from a middle blocker to an outside hitter position and 2008 and immediately contributed – posting 1.97 kills and 2.57 digs per set. She is joined by Petak (Omaha, Neb.), who, in her second year as Truman’s primary setter in the 6-2 formation, posted a 6.28 assists per set average and served 26 aces – a team-best.
This is just the fifth time in program history that six or more Bulldogs were named all-MIAA.
Emporia sophomore setter Ting Liu was named conference MVP, while Central Missouri’s Allie Huffman took over the title of freshman of the year. Emporia coach Bing Xu garnered coach of the year honors after guiding his team to a 32-3 overall record and the top seed in the upcoming South Central Regional tournament.
Truman finished the regular season with a 29-7 overall record and was rewarded with the No. 2 seed in the NCAA South Central region. The squad, led by fourth year head coach Jason Skoch, will face 7th-seeded Nebraska-Omaha in the tournament’s first round on Friday at 2:30 p.m. in Emporia, Kansas.