McNamara Nominated For Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year

Dec. 22– ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Board of The Collegiate Women Sports Awards has announced that Concordia University's Maggie McNamara is a candidate for the 2008-09 Division II Athlete of the Year, representing volleyball. The program is in it's 34th year and recognizes the top woman athlete in each of 11 sports in Division II as nominees for the Division II Athletes of the Year. McNamara will be one of 11 student-athletes in the running for the Honda-Broderick Cup, which will be awarded June 22, 2009 at Columbia University in New York City. Maggie McNamara helped her Golden Bears to a repeat performance as NCAA Division II Volleyball National Champions, winning their second trophy on their home court on Dec. 6. After leading the NCAA in assists for the third straight year, McNamara was deemed the Division II Player of the Year by the AVCA, thus prompting her nomination for the Collegiate Women Sports Award Athlete of the Year. She will be competing against the top DII athletes from basketball, cross country, field hockey, golf, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis and track & field for the Athlete of the Year, sponsored by Honda. Maggie finished the season with 1,730 assists, which equates to 13.41 assists per set. The next top assist-getter in the NCAA DII had an average of 12.17 assists per set. After completing her junior season, Maggie has a career assist mark of 5,800, less than 1,000 assists out from the Concordia career record of 6,724. She has led the NCAA in assists since she arrived to play collegiately and currently has the NCAA's best career assist per set average (14.36) in history. Not only does McNamara quarterback the team's offense, she is also one of the best defenders in school history. She finished the 2008 season with 198 digs per game (2.31/set), bringing her career total to 1,034. This ranks tenth all-time at Concordia University. McNamara will make a bid for volleyball to repeat as the recipient of the DII Athlete of the Year award, which hasn't happened since 1987-88 and 1988-89. Minnesota Duluth's Vicky Braegelmann is the reigning award-winner. Softball and basketball are the only other two sports to repeat with consecutive Athlete of the Year awards. To celebrate this nomination, American Honda Motor Co. will donate $1,000 to the women's athletic fund at Concordia University. American Honda Motor Co. will also donate $5,000 to the school of the Division II Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year recipient. McNamara's 2008 Superlatives - AVCA DII Player of the Year - AVCA All-America First Team - AVCA All-Central Region First Team - Ron Lenz Daktronics DII Player of the Year - Daktronics Central Region Player of the Year, All-Region First Team - CoSIDA Academic All-District Second Team - All-NSIC First Team - NSIC Setter of the Week (6x)