Dec. 13, 2006

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - UC Santa Barbara senior middle blocker Olivia Waldowski was awarded 2006 American Volleyball Coaches Association Division I All-America Honorable Mention accolades it was announced Wednesday, marking the first career honor for the Irvine, Calif. native who helped the Gaucho women's volleyball team to a 19-12 record this season and its 26th consecutive NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Tournament appearance.

Waldowski, who was also named to the AVCA All-West Region Team and the All-Big West Conference First Team, was one of two league members to earn a spot on the list along with Long Beach State's Alexis Crimes

The 6'3" middle blocker led the conference with a .394 clip, which ranks thirteenth among all Division I players. Her clip is the highest single season hitting percentage in Gaucho history and her .363 four-year career hitting percentage is a school record.

In addition to leading the conference in hitting percentage, Waldowski also posted 400 kills on the season and averaged 3.48 kills per game, ranking seventh in the Big West. She had 25 double-digit kill performances on the season and hit over .300 on 27 occasions, including six matches with a clip surpassing .500.

The four-time all-conference pick, received Big West Player of the Week honors as well as Golden1/ucsbgauchos.com Student-Athlete of the Week honors on October 10. She also received all-tournament honors at the USD Invitational as well as the USF Powerade/Asics Classic.

The senior closed out her career at UCSB ranked third all-time in the Gaucho record books for block assists (371), fourth for total blocks (421) and tied fourth for service aces (137).

Waldowski is the twentieth Gaucho to earn All-American honors and the third in three years.

UCSB concluded the 2006 season with a 19-12 overall record and an 8-6 mark in the Big West, giving the Gauchos a third place finish in the conference. Santa Barbara also remained one of only three programs in the nation to advance to all 26 NCAA Championships dating back to the tournament's inception in 1981. The Gauchos fell in a 3- 2 heartbreaker against BYU in the first round November 30.