(Posted November 22, 2000)

Junior outside hitter Brandy Workinger (Dallastown/Dallastown) has been named an American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division III first-team all-American, while sophomore setter Jesse Woods (Bothell/Seattle, WA) picked up AVCA Division III second-team all-American laurels. The Eagle leaders were members of the 20th annual AVCA all-American squad and the awards will be presented to the 24 student-athletes named all-Americans in 2000 at the NCAA Division III women's volleyball semifinals/finals banquet on the Central College campus on Thursday, November 30.

It marked the initial all-American honors for each Juniata College student-athlete.

The duo was tabbed as AVCA Mid-Atlantic all-region members and Commonwealth Conference first-team all-stars earlier this month. In addition, Workinger was named the Commonwealth Most Valuable Player, as well as a member of the Verizon/College Sports Information Directors of America all-district squad. Academic all-American honors are scheduled to be released on December 12.

Workinger was the Conference's Player of the Week three times this fall. In addition, she was the AVCA/Sports Imports Division III national player of the week once. Workinger posted 30-or-more kills in a match three times this season, including a career-high 34 against Nebraska Wesleyan on October 7. For the year, she led the conference in kills per game and digs an outing. Through matches of November 18 (NCAA Division III Quarterfinals), Workinger is averaging 4.92 kills and 4.62 digs per game. She has tallied a Juniata single-season record 699 kills this fall and overall, she leads the Eagles in nine statistical categories. Workinger owns club-high totals in kills, kill attempts (1,463), hitting percentage (.346), digs (656) and solo blocks (26). She opened the year by posting double-figures in kills in Juniata's first 15 matches. Overall, Workinger has had 10-or-more terminations in a match 34 times and double-digit dig numbers on 30 occasions.

Woods has passed out 1,500 assists for a 12.40 assist-per-game average and is first on the club with 60 service aces. In addition, she is third on the squad in digs with 363 (3.00) and has tallied 81 kills on 176 attempts and just 14 errors for a .381 hitting percentage. Woods was named the Commonwealth Player of the Week two times this fall and was tabbed as AVCA/Sports Imports Division III Player of the Week once. She had a season-high 80 assists against Edinboro on September 2. Overall, Woods posted 40-or-more assists in a match 17 times, and had double-figure dig totals in 14 outings. She had a season-best 31 digs and 70 assists in a 3-1 loss to Nebraska Wesleyan on October 7. In addition, Woods served up a personal-high eight aces versus Mercyhurst on September 2.

Juniata, ranked fifth in the final AVCA Division III poll, will take its 33-8 record into the NCAA Division III semifinals/finals on Friday and Saturday, December 1-2. The Eagles will journey to Pella, Iowa and Central College to take on first-ranked Wisconsin-Whitewater (39-1) at 6:00 p.m. (EST) in the semifinals on Friday. The other semifinal will have host Central (38-2), which is ranked second in the nation, taking on Washington (MO) (33-4) at 9:00 p.m. on December 1. The winners will move on to the national championship match at 9:00 p.m. on December 2, while the losers will play for third place at 6:00 p.m. the same day.

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.