Kari Pestolesi, Juliane Piggott Earns AVCA All-West Region Honors

Dec. 9, 2009

IRVINE, Calif. --- Juniors Kari Pestolesi (Huntington Beach/Edison HS) and Juliane Piggott (Newport Beach/UCLA) were named American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) West Region honorable mention. The honor is third for Pestolesi while Piggott earns her first accolade from the AVCA.

Pestolesi, a three-time All-Big West first-team performer, is 68th in the nation in kills with a 3.87 average. The outside hitter also is ranked 53rd in points per set (4.47) and 77th in aces at 0.36. She topped the team in kills with 437, aces with 41 and was second in digs with 442 to post the sixth-best mark in the UCI season record books. Pestolesi, an AVCA National Player of the Week, accumulated 23 double-double (kills/digs) matches this season for the Anteaters. She had a season-high 23 kills twice this season and picked up a season-best 26 digs in her lone stint as the team's libero in a sweep against Seattle University. She finished the season ranked fourth in the Big West in kills, third in aces and sixth in digs.

Piggott, a transfer from UCLA, also earned All-Big West first-team honors this season. The outside hitter was 10th in the Big West in kill average at 3.15 and totaled 353. She also was fourth in aces with 26 and digs with 198 while totaling 52 blocks for UCI. Piggott had six double-double (kills/digs) matches for the Anteaters and recorded a career-high 27 kills in the Big West Conference title match against Long Beach State. She also totaled a career-best 16 digs twice this year and put up a personal-best five block assists against UC Davis.

UC Irvine finished the season 22-8, reaching 20 wins for the fifth time. The eight losses are the fewest for UCI since 1978 while the win-loss percentage of .733 is the best in program history. The Anteaters also recorded an 11-5 Big West mark to tie for second in the conference.