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Women's Volleyball:
Charlie Brande Named Big West Coach of the Year
Nov. 25, 2008 IRVINE, Calif. --- UC Irvine's Charlie Brande earned top coaching honors while Lauren Kellerman (Escondido/HS), Kari Pestolesi (Huntington Beach/Edison HS), Devon Sutherland (Corona/Santiago HS) and Alexandra Hauser (Chino Hills/Ayala HS) were named All-Big West today as announced by the conference office. Brande becomes the first UC Irvine head coach to receive the honor after guiding the Anteaters to a 12-4 Big West record (17-12 overall) and a second-place finish in the conference, UCI's highest since 2003. The program's 12 victories tie for the most conference wins in UCI history. Brande's Anteaters paced the league in kills (14.07), digs (15.77) and assists (2.57) and won 10 of their last 12 matches to conclude the regular season. Brande, who is in his final year of coaching at UCI, recorded 135 wins in nine seasons and led UCI to the NCAA postseason in 2003 and 2004. Kellerman was named to the All-Big West first team for the third consecutive year after posting 349 kills and a 3.32 per-set average. The outside hitter was third on the team with 20 service aces and 259 digs. She earned Big West Player of the Week honors after recording 21 kills and a team-high 13 digs to lead the team to a 3-1 win over Long Beach State. Kellerman logged a season-best 23 kills in the win against Long Beach state and 19 digs in non-conference action against Kansas State. Pestolesi, a two-time All-Big West first-team honoree, paced UC Irvine in kills (373), kill average (3.59) and service aces (35) and was second on the team in digs with 348. Pestolesi concluded the regular season third in the Big West in aces, fourth in kills and seventh in dig average at 3.35. Pestolesi earned Big West Player of the Week honors after leading UC Irvine to wins against UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly to end the season. The outside hitter combined for 35 kills and 47 digs, including 28 digs against the Gauchos and posted a .366 hitting percentage against Cal Poly, her second-best performance this season. Pestolesi recorded 20 double-double matches (kills/digs) with a season-high 19 kills against Pacific and 29 digs against Long Beach State.
Sutherland earns her second All-Big West honorable mention award after posting a 4.28 dig average this season. Sutherland, UCI's career-leader in digs with 1,756, also owns the second, third and fourth spots in the UCI season records. Sutherland, ranked in the nation in digs at No. 93, recorded a career-high 31 digs against the Gauchos last week. Sutherland posted double-digit digs in all but three matches for the Anteaters. Hauser was voted to the All-Freshman Team after finishing third on the team in blocks with 62. Hauser also added 93 kills, averaging 1.24 per set. The middle blocker posted a .255 hitting percentage and recorded a career-high six block assist twice this season, against San Jose State and UC Santa Barbara. Cal State Fullerton's Brittany Moore was tabbed the conference's Player of the Year while 49er Caitlin Ledoux picked up Freshman of the Year honors. |
