The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Sam Serley Tabbed For All-American Status By AVCA
12/15/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Dec. 15, 2010
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Sam Serley was recognized as an honorable mention All-American on Wednesday by the American Volleyball Coaches Association, a week after being named to the AVCA All-Midwest Region Team.
The sophomore middle blocker becomes the fourth honorable mention All-American in UAB's program history, joining two-time honoree Ivana Bozic (2006 and 2008) and Nevena Stefanov (2008). All four have come within the past five seasons.
Serley's All-Region selection last week made her eligible for All-America voting. The Nashville, Tenn., product was also an All-Conference USA Second Team performer and a member of the C-USA All-Academic Team this fall.
"We are proud of what Sam accomplished this season," UAB head coach Kerry Messersmith said. "She was good as a freshman last year but really came into her own as a sophomore as a player we could count on for consistently strong performances. It means a lot for our program to have another player recognized as an All-American."
Serley's versatility as both an offensive and defensive threat in the middle distinguished her on the court this season. She finished the year as UAB's leader in attack percentage (.318), blocks per set (1.08) and kills (333), ranking in the top 12 in C-USA in all three categories.
Her most dominant play came during October when she posted double-digit kills in seven straight matches, hitting better than .420 in five of them and posting at least five blocks in four. On the season, she tallied 16 double-figure kill performances, including a career-best 23 Sept. 11 versus Arkansas, and managed 13 matches with five or more blocks.
Serley helped UAB win its final five matches and eight of its last 11 to finish 13-19 overall and 10-10 in conference play. She was part of a young Blazer team that loses only two seniors as it looks to build on its strong finish next year.
For a complete listing of the All-America teams, visit www.avca.org.
